The Emperor Hayne has no clothes

J Wayne is a legend but only in his own mind.the only trick in his book is to hold his arms out from his sides. He's never taken off yet!

Gotta laugh at the Hayne-haters. He had one bad game and now he's getting crucified for it. I have to agree with SuperEel22, if you put Hayne in the Storm team that has Cronk and Smith, he'd be the best player in the comp. And if you put Slater in the current Parramatta team, he'd just be a good player. It's a team sport boys and girls. If your forwards don't lay the platform for you, you will get smashed. If you have dodgy playmaking halves, you can't expect to pull off a miracle play every time you touch the ball. Parramatta have a decent forward pack but nowhere near intimidating as the top teams in the comp. Sandow has 1 good game for every 5 games that he plays. Parra's problem is that they don't have another decent playmaker to play their 5/8. Luke Kelly shows promise but keeps getting injured. Ben Roberts is a constant mistake waiting to happen - I just automatically expect him to screw up the play whenever the ball comes near him. And Paulo is NOT a 5/8 no matter how many times he palms the ball with one hand and tries to pull off a Feleti Mateo move. If Parramatta sort out their 5/8 problems, I have no doubt Hayne will be making all you haters eat humble pie. His stats prove he is an elite player. Imagine what his stats would be if he had decent players to play with?

Amen. I'm glad someone else is able to say it. No doubt Hayne has a bucketload of attacking talent, but his defense leaves something to be desired. Actually, a lot to be desired. More indicting is the fact that Barba might once have been in a similar category pre-2012 (lots of attacking talent, makes defensive errors), but Hasler was able to send a rocket up Barba, who has completely reworked his defensive game. Stuart needs to do the same to Hayne. But I don't know if it's just a matter of emperor's new clothes. We esteem a lot of players who can attack and not defend. Benji Marshall is another serial offender who is lazy on defence. Watch a Tigers game--if there's a break by the opposition, some of the forwards will be sprinting past Marshall on the way back to the defensive line. No urgency in his game. Perhaps he can get away with that as five-eighth, but he would be my last choice at fullback.

The 2010 Salary Cap Breach notices are as follows: Club Fine Wests Tigers $187,140 Gold Coast Titans $76,380 Parramatta Eels $44,988 Canberra Raiders $31,657 St George Illawarra Dragons $15,694 Because the eels are angels?

this article is beyond ridiculous. sure, he appears lazy in defence and had a sub par game on thurs. and super eel has acknowledged this. however to say he isnt a top class player is ridiculous. you keep pointing out this one or two instance moments, yet you can't explain his ridiculously good CVR (good enough for 6th in the nrl). you can't explain that he only just missed out on being the best average metre returning fullback in the nrl (to greg inglis - an undisputed superstar, beating another one in billy slater). and for someone (lost earthling) to suggest that him dawdling back would give him MORE time and MORE metres doesn't understand rugby league from a bag of fish. i cant even begin to comprehend why you would think that is the case. did hayne have a bad game? of course he did. i know that, supereel knows that, phil gould knows that, even jarryd knows that. but if you think this youtube clips (that you found so quickly!) prove he is less than a superstar- wrong again

..But applying the Jack Gibson theory of team selection he and Inglis would be the first two players Id pick. Huge hit on Lockeyer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBOo4cyktZ0 Hayne V Inglis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeDytqVbpZc Note the appalling defense by Slater as Hayne pummels him outta of the way in origin at 2:45 You'll enjoy this Turbo, watch it and then try and claim the guy is not a top class footballer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDA5U0_hJLA Check out the amazing situational awareness at 2:34 turning defense into attack in an origin match.

hahaha TAMU, I wouldnt be using the Dally M award as a yardstick and the same goes with the immortals. If it was voted on by past players / coaches that have been out of the game for a minimum amont of time or refs and not the media or a section of it then it might hold a little more substance.

Sorry Turbowd for being bullish but your so far of the mark on this. Haynes a great player and a great full back. I wouldn't say hes the best No1 in the game. If I had to pick a team to save my life Hayne would be my third choice No1 behind Slater and Stewart but to suggest the guy is not a top quality player is just ridiculous

Well hes not a fullback! Utterly inconsistent and, at times, lazy.

Tony Archer, Scroll up and explain how a DCEvans dummy to noone utterly fools Hayne in the clip v Manly. How Hayne failed to line up his man (DCE) and how when he caught up to DCE so easily he chose to slide to the ground. In this years All Stars game Hayne also fell for a micro jink from Reese Robison and let in a try. Embarassing. I speak of examples of his poor defence, and there are many and theyre easy to find.

You mean like the try saver he made to stop Kris Keating millimeters from the line on Thursday night. Filled the A defender gap on the line because the next defender wasn't close enough than ran 40 metres across field past 6 of his team mates and was probably a second late to help Tautai try and stop Perret scoring...? Yeah sounds particularly lazy... Winger?! He is capable of throwing brilliant cut out passes both sides! Why would anyone waste that talent on a wing! It drives me nuts when people say Hayne is a winger!

Your right fullbacks do often do that, but if there is no one else back there you also see those same fullbacks back that winger up either as support or as the dummy half when the winger takes the tackle not "here, i couldn't be bothered taking it up". And it was more than once.

Apart from the fact that fullbacks often do that, in relation to Thursday nights match t is actually not true. I was making a note of watching for it and watching his kick returns and he passed it off to a winger once, and that was when he had had to turn to chase a ball and the winger was already running back with forward momentum (so it made sense).

Hayne has played 2 matches at fullback for NSW. Brett Stewart has played 8 matches at fullback. Not exactly a fair comparison.

Playing him on the wing is completely illogical and a waste of his talent. He needs to be involved in the game, not just wait for the ball to come his way and pinned next to a sideline like he is in Origin. When he plays Origin he plays best when he is in-field and can have room to move. He uses his pace and agility against tiring forwards and can act as a third ball-player. I have seen nearly every one of Hayne's matches. You seem to just watch the Eels matches when they're on free-to-air and you don't pay much attention. Hayne is a lot more involved than you think in defence he just needs to be more consistent. Many times has he put his body on the line and many times he has prevented a try, you're just too biased to see it.

You said, and I quote "he has never performed that well during origin."

he has more speed creativity then paulo though

Hahahaha

Because Ben Roberts is garbage, a worthless buy for the eels. A good waste of 200k. The sooner Ricky punts him, like Des did, the better. Luke Kelly will be the first choice 5/8 when he returns from his injured hammy.