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Sometimes I feel like I’m the little kid from Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes.
In this 1800s tale a vain Emperor is fooled into believing he is wearing invisible clothes and he struts through the town until a child cries calls out the ruse.
Now swap the 1800s for present day NRL, the Emperor for Jarryd Hayne and the child for me.
I am not fooled.
Jarryd Hayne is not a top class player.
Now I take no delight in saying this, but it must be said, Hayne at fullback is defensively lazy.
Very lazy. And considering his salary, this poor form must be called out.
Now I can’t believe the Channel Nine commentators don’t call him out on this, but I understand why.
NRL circles in Sydney are painfully close, people rarely say anything too controversial.
That changed last night.
At the 73 minute a high ball from the Bulldogs went up near the Parramatta goal-line and the winger went to field the ball under pressure.
Hayne, however dawdled across. There was zero urgency to support his winger.
Phil Gould commented on this soon after. Finally! Others can see what I’ve been seeing for years!
The guy is terrible in defence and he is part of the reason Parramatta has been awful for three years running.
Here are notes I took from last night’s game.
4:00 – Cross-field kick by Canterbury towards the Parramatta goal-line. Hayne dawdles across, zero urgency.
4:03 – Hayne can be seen slowing completely.
4:06 – The ball goes to ground a few meters from the tryline. The Bulldogs player regathers and Hayne completely muffs the tackle. It was hopeless. If he showed some urgency he could have nailed the play.
7:09 – Another Bulldogs try, this one near the cornerpost. Hayne wasn’t even close, again can be seen strolling towards the action. Zero urgency!
20:28 – Hayne is caught in open field versus three Bulldogs. Hayne “falls” for a dummy from Reynolds and fails to even lay a hand on Reynolds. Pathetic. You must make an effort to tackle the ball carrier and force him to pass. Even schoolboys know this…
In this game Hayne also threw a pass that was 3-4 metres forward, had one knock on and had one kickoff go out on the full.
And, as Gould said, he was lazy at the 73 minute mark.
Considering he is probably Parra’s highest paid, I didn’t really see him try to inject himself into the play with the ball either.
Anyway, if you don’t believe me, set your PVR or HTPC to record Parra games.
Watch Hayne closely when he’s defending his tryline and see how lazy he is.
Contrast him to Billy Slater who has had more in-goal holdups than anyone in recent memory.
He is a real fullback.
Hayne is naked. Now open your eyes and you will see it too.
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