New father Jake Clifford will make his first appearance in an NRL finals game on Sunday against the Eels in Rockhampton bouyed by the 'greatest experience' of his life.
Less than 24 hours after Clifford played for the Knights in their final round clash against the Broncos in Brisbane on Saturday, the five-eighth became a father for the first time with his wife Stephanie giving birth to their baby daughter Naivy in Townsville.
And proud dad was there for little Naivy's arrival following an exhaustive 15 hour, 1320 km overnight car trip that got him to the hospital just in time.
"I think I had six hours' sleep in 48 hours," Clifford said after rejoining the Knights camp on the Sunshine Coast on Monday night.
"But it was just the greatest experience. Becoming a father on Father's Day is pretty special and to be there for the birth was something else. Both Steph and the bub are doing really well."
Clifford 23, who was granted a dispensation to leave the Knights bubble to be there for the birth, left Brisbane after the game around 6pm with Knights welfare official Matt Morriss driving, arriving in Rockhampton around 1.30am where he was picked up by his father and taken the rest of the way non-stop to Townsville.
"Steph was booked in to have the baby yesterday [Monday] but I got a call just as we got to Rocky to say she had gone into labour," he said. "We arrived at 8.50am and she went into theatre 25 minutes later."
