Beware a scorned Jarryd Hayne.
That’s the message from Gold Coast coach Neil Henry as his superstar fullback continues his State of Origin II bounce back.
NSW coach Laurie Daley has guaranteed Hayne’s place in the Blues side for the July 12 decider despite calls for him to be dropped after his forgettable effort in their game two defeat.
After dropping one ball, throwing it into touch while his side was on the attack and failing to pass to Brett Morris and bombing what looked a certain try, the ‘Hayne Plane’ had the finger pointed at him.
He rebounded in style last week, scoring two tries and setting up another against last-placed Wests Tigers and Henry said Hayne still felt he had something to prove against St George Illawarra on Friday night.
“He was pretty good last week backing up after Origin,” Henry said.
“He’ll need to get his hands on the ball again tomorrow night, we need him involved in the game.
“He’s very honest in admitting his performance in Origin II wasn’t up to scratch, he made a couple of errors there.
“He’ll try to make amends and the best way he can do that is by having a solid preparation via club footy.
“He’s done the first leg of that very well and I’m sure he’ll be keen to back that up.”
With Tyrone Roberts and Chris McQueen back to face the Dragons, the Titans are all but at full strength with only Kane Elgey (sternum) unavailable.
St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor said the Titans’ 14th place on the ladder belied their ability, pointing to Roberts’ combination with Ash Taylor in the early part of the season.
The Dragons are without in-form prop Paul Vaughan (calf), however, his loss is soothed by the return of Jack de Belin and Euan Aitken, while McGregor said Frizell would take the field despite an ankle injury suffered against Newcastle.
The Dragons were lacklustre and forced to come from behind against the Knights and McGregor said they were emerging from a form slump, which every side goes through at some point.
“We play risk-reward footy,” McGregor said.
“If you look at our offloads, our linebreaks and the way we play, there’s a bit of risk in it; but there’s a lot of reward,”
“At some point you’re going to give errors away, you’re going to get penalties against you.
“The resilience to overcome that is really important and we’ve done that for most of the year.
“We just fell away in the last few weeks.”
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.
Buzz Rothfield from NRL 360 has also questioned why the bunker wasn't involved in looking at the off-side as it ended up costing the…
Graham Annesley has admitted the match officials got it wrong and the Titans should've been given a set restart after a Raiders player was…
Cranky old coaches Des Hasler and Ricky Stuart reportedly engaged in a post-match argument outside Canberra's dressing room following the Titans' controversial golden-point loss…
Ricky Stuart says Gold Coast coach Des Hasler is "on another planet" after the Titans boss blasted the refereeing in his side's golden point…
Ricky Stuart wasn't happy when he found out the Titans coach had described Kasey Badger's refereeing as 'pretty poor'.
The commentators were in awe at the blast from the past, but the Canberra players were just confused by Hudson Young's antics.
