It’s official, Jarryd Hayne will return to rugby league, although the game’s prodigal son will not be plying his trade at the club where he made his name.
Rather, the Hayne Plane will be touching down on the Gold Coast, after securing a two-year deal said to be worth almost $2.5 million.
There were reports the Parramatta Eels offered their former custodian and captain a deal worth around $800,000 a season, money which was dwarfed by the Titans deal of $1.2 million a season.
In today’s press conference Hayne said there was no formal offer from Parramatta on the table.
More Jarryd Hayne:
» Five big questions about Hayne signing with the Gold Coast Titans
» Jarryd Hayne’s Gold Coast Titans press conference
» Splash of the Titans – Jarryd officially signs with the Gold Coast
» Hayne WILL PLAY this weekend
It’s a huge coup for the league’s newest club, who are having something of a fairytale season after they were snubbed by Daly Cherry-Evans last year.
Having secured the Manly halfback’s signature on a deal thought to be worth around $1 million per season, Cherry-Evans backflipped on the deal to stay at the Sea Eagles.
While it was a devastating blow for the Titans at the time, coach Neil Henry has his squad of relatively unknown players sitting seventh on the NRL ladder, having just ended the table-topping Sharks’ 15-game winning streak with a draw on Monday night.
Hayne joining the fledgling side – and he will join them, with the controversial June 30 ‘backflip’ deadline now a thing of the past (besides, it’s August) – is sure to boost them even further, and the Titans will be dreaming of top-four finishes over the next two years, and possibly even a premiership.
And, while the money likely makes Hayne the richest player in rugby league history, the chance to win a premiership would have been a strong motivating factor for Hayne joining the Gold Coast side.
The cross-code star left the Eels in 2014 for the chance to chase his dream of playing in the NFL, a dream he fulfilled by featuring for the San Fransisco 49ers on eight occasions over the 2015-16 season.
In a shock move, Hayne announced his retirement from the NFL in May to chase another dream, that of playing at the Olympics. But time was against him, and he failed to make the cut for the Rio Games with the Fiji rugby sevens side.
Having featured briefly for Fiji at the London sevens tournament, he was ineligible to play for the Wallabies. As such, after announcing he was looking at his options following being dropped from the Fiji sevens side, any contract with a Super Rugby side looked unlikely to eventuate as the ARU were not in a position to top up his contract.
Still, Hayne appeared to have plenty of options, with talk he could secure a massive payday in French or Japanese rugby, or return to league where there were no shortage of clubs lining up for his services.
Yet the Eels were believed to be the frontrunners for his signature, particularly since Hayne said as recently as February this year, “I always said, if I ever came back I’d go to Parra if they wanted me.
“That was always something I said from the start. It’s funny when you see media outlets say I’m doing this and I’m doing that. It’s even funnier when you see Parra fans go online and have a go at me. If you believe that you’re a clown.”
Meanwhile, the loss of Hayne is the latest blow in the Eels’ season from hell.
After going on a spending spree themselves last season to secure the signature of Kieran Foran, the halfback was released from the club last week, following a season interrupted by injury and personal issues, including an attempt on his own life earlier this year.
The money Parra saved by releasing Foran was set to go towards paying for Hayne’s return. Now, once again, it’s back to the drawing board for the Eels.
Hayne released the following statement on Twitter:
You’ve probably already heard the news this morning but if you haven’t, I signed a deal to join the Gold Coast Titans.
Over the last few weeks, I have waited for an offer from the Eels but unfortunately due to instability with the board, no formal offer has been put on the table. Thinking about my future, I had to become open to other club offers and the Gold Coast Titans presented a great opportunity.
They have a solid and stable team both on and off the field and I’m looking forward to joining the club but at the same time, I’m saddened it had to end like this with the Eels and i’m truly sorry for disappointing all the Parramatta fans, players and the club that have been with me from the start.
This has been a difficult decision for me and i’m as devastated as any fan that I won’t be putting on the blue and gold jersey this year. I now have a new challenge ahead of me and am excited about getting back on the field and playing some footy.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
He was trying to slow the play the ball from Brian Kelly - and the look on his face showed he knew what he…
Manly have snuck home against the Titans in a wild game on the Gold Coast, running out 34-30 winners on a night in which,…
Gold Coast fought their way back into the contest in the first half, and it was on the back of moments like this.
The Gold Coast captain was adamant he was interfered with as Manly cut the deficit to two right on halftime.
The Manly centre was convinced that he knocked the ball backwards.
It was a bad defensive read and eventually, the bunker agreed with the commentators.
