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It was announced today that Jarryd Hayne has won the 2009 Jarryd Hayne Medal for the best player of the NRL in 2009.
Hayne also took out the Jarryd Hayne Medal for the Man of the Match in this year’s Grand Final and is expected to receive the Brownlow Medal from the AFL and the Allan Border Medal from Cricket Australia later in the year.
Hayne was presented with the awards in a low key ceremony at Parramatta Eels training on Wednesday afternoon.
It was a special day for Hayne after he only learned earlier that morning that the NRL player of the year award was to be renamed after him to reflect his preponderant greatness in the sport.
The CEO of the NRL, David Gallop, discussed the decision to rename the award when questioned by the media.
“With Jarryd playing so well and clearly being the greatest player ever we felt the time was right to change the name of the award to reflect the fact that we assume that he will win the next ten consecutive player of the year awards,” said Gallop.
Gallop was questioned as to whether the decision to rename the award was prudent given the lack of success with renaming the award the Sonny Bill Williams Medal, The Mark Gasnier Medal, and most recently, the Greg Inglis Medal.
“Look all of those players were definitely the greatest player ever, and now Jarryd is the greatest player ever. It’s that simple.”
Many members of the media questioned the selection of Hayne for the similarly renamed Jarryd Hayne medal for Grand Final Man of the Match as the Eels have yet to secure a finals berth and are therefore not guaranteed to even play in the Grand Final.
However, the Chairman of the selection panel, Phil Gould, was unequivocal in his support for Hayne: “Look whether or not Jarryd plays in the Grand Final we can be certain that he will have a massive influence over the game.”
Gould went on to say that it was Hayne’s special combination of skills that guaranteed that he would win the Man of the Match in the Grand Final: “Jarryd is such an elusive runner and he so big and strong that even if the Eels aren’t playing I expect him to score a handful of tries in the big game.”
Considered perhaps the most hyperbolic and blinkered sports broadcaster in Australia, Gould went on to indicate that to anybody who doubted Hayne’s greatness, he would simply say: “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no … no!”
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