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Is Jarryd Hayne now the best player in the world? Is that what the past week’s performances – by NSW with him and by Parramatta without him – tell us?
Hayne first created the potential for best-in-the-world status in 2009 with that incredible second half of the season that ended with the Eels losing the grand final to Melbourne, a team with two regular contenders for best-in-the-world status in Billy Slater and Cameron Smith.
He wasn’t able to continue at that amazing level – no-one ever is, it was that freaky – and while he remained a great player he wasn’t considered to be in that elite class that included Slater, Smith, Greg Inglis and Johnathan Thurston.
But he must at least be part of the discussion now.
Would the Blues have won Origin I without Hayne? I believe not. His influence on the outcome of the match – even with so many other great players on the field, for both sides – was that big.
The try he scored provided the greatest evidence of that. No other player would have scored it. They would have been stopped short of the line.
It was yet another example of Hayne’s amazing strength that, despite hitting the ground, he was still able to fight his way through the defence and get over the line.
We’ve seen him use that same strength to repeatedly save what look like certain tries in the NRL when he tackles the ball-carrier around the middle and somehow gets him on his back despite momentum being so far against him he doesn’t look to have a remote chance.
For those who appreciate statistics, apart from scoring that try, Hayne ran for 173 metres in Origin I and had 10 tackle breaks, two offloads, two line-breaks and one line-break assist.
It must be noted that Slater at fullback for Queensland had a terrific game as well, which just goes to show that the argument over who is the best player in the world is ongoing.
Slater, Smith, Inglis, Thurston and Hayne regularly deliver superb performances.
And that’s the point with Hayne. For a while, in recent years, he tended to drift in and out of games and not have the constant influence those other players have from their similarly key positions.
But Hayne has now mastered the art of playing fullback and is producing constantly high-quality performances himself.
Hayne, as a fullback, mixes the traditional with his own ability to get heavily involved in the play, whether it be from out of the back or rushing up to join the front line in attack.
Parramatta were pretty much useless without him when they lost 38-12 to Penrith on Friday night.
I know it’s unrealistic to say the absence of one player was responsible for a 26-point difference between two teams, but Hayne’s absence was certainly the start of where that game was won and lost.
He controls the tempo for Parramatta and has developed a great understanding with their rejuvenated halfback, Chris Sandow.
Sometimes, when there are so many great players to be considered and there is so little between them, the question of which is the best in the world becomes almost a weekly argument.
Slater, Inglis, Thurston and Smith have been the main contenders for a while now and it has chopped and changed between them.
But surely Hayne has entered the equation.
I don’t know if he’ll be rated the best player in the world a month from now, or late in the season, but, as far as I’m concerned, for the week just gone – and coming off the fantastic base he has created in the NRL this season – he is number one right now.
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