Perception of Jarryd Hayne will be dictated by what happens next

Here is the thing about Jarryd Hayne making the switch from the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers to Fiji sevens rugby.

Unless you were living under a rock on Monday, you would have no doubt seen the news that Hayne had quit the 49ers and will now head to the Rio Olympics as part of Fiji’s Sevens squad.

Bravo Mr. Hayne, another twist in this amazing story – the kid from Minto has done it again.

More:
» Jarryd Hayne retires from NFL – wants to play Olympic Sevens
» Jarryd Hayne has ‘no plans’ post-Olympics
» INGS: Hayne’s Olympic dream may be over before it began

First things first. The fact that Hayne even made the 49ers’ 53-man squad in his first crack at gridiron is nothing short of amazing. We felt every moment in Hayne’s ride, he’d become Australia’s favourite son and we were the doting parents on the sideline, weeping tears of joy as our Jarryd made us oh so proud.

On Monday morning we all woke to the shock headlines that Hayne was quitting the NFL. Some will say new 49ers coach Chip Kelly had quietly tapped Hayne on the shoulder and that if Hayne was serious about being a long-term NFL player he would have moved onto another franchise and kept pushing.

Sometimes life throws you curve balls and the opportunity to be part of an Olympic games was too much for Hayne to turn down.

“I am retiring from the NFL because the Fiji Rugby Sevens team reached out to me about the opportunity to join the team for the upcoming Olympics, and I simply could not pass that chance up,” Hayne said in a statement.

“The Olympics has been something I have admired since I was a little boy, and it is an opportunity I feel very similar to me joining the NFL.”

The thing is Hayne isn’t guaranteed a spot just yet. The NRL Dally M Medalist will join a Fijian training squad before the Olympic team is finalised. But if the Fijians have reached out to Hayne and offered him this chance surely they’re not going to turn him away at the final stage?

“This is just a fantastic opportunity we want to grab and then we’ll sit down and dust ourselves off after that and consider the next move,” Hayne’s manager Wayne Beavis told Fox Sports.com.au.

“Plan b has never been discussed whether it’s rugby union, marbles, soccer or whatever. This came out of left field and we’re going to run with it.”

Beavis’ comments are cryptically worrying.

When Hayne packed his bags for the NFL, we as rugby league fans backed him all the way. We’d never experienced anything like it. This wasn’t Sonny Bill Williams running out in the middle of the night to play union; it wasn’t Israel Folau or Karmichael Hunt becoming instant multi-millionaires to play a sport they barely knew anything about.

This was the National Football League, damn it – the biggest sporting code in the United States of America!

How could you not support him?

Now he wants to play in the Olympics – that’s bloody fantastic.

Then you read Beavis’ comments again. It starts to make you think when you hear “a fantastic opportunity we want to grab”, “consider the next move” and “we’re going to run with it.”

For now, Hayne is still the golden child. A poster boy for a generation of suburban kids looking for their big break. But his next move, post-Olympics will define how we remember this tale.

There are plenty of realistic opportunities for the former Parramatta superstar. There’s a bunch of money the size of Mount Fuji waiting for him in Japan if he wants a short-term stint before signing off on a longer team deal somewhere else. That somewhere else could be the NRL, Super Rugby or European rugby.

The problem is, whether he likes it or not, if he doesn’t return to the Eels, he becomes another ‘Money Ball’ spinner. In fact, he’d probably take the Money Ball World Title from the man who helped create it, SBW.

And then there’s another issue that could potentially scorn Parramatta fans forever.

You can only speculate how the public will portray Hayne if he ends up at Bondi with the Sydney Roosters or any NRL club other than the Eels.

The Eels aren’t the victims here, either. They’re currently on zero competition points because of salary cap cheating and would be forced to shed players to accommodate Hayne. Parramatta’s plight is their own doing. But they have said time and time again they would make room for one of their favourite sons. There is however another scenario which may blow Parramatta out of the water before they even get to the negotiating table.

If for whatever reason Hayne doesn’t make the Fijian Olympic team, the fullback-come-running back needs a new home for the remainder of 2016. According to reports, Roosters have a spare $600,000 in their cap which was purposely put aside if and when Hayne became available. The only other team with the potential finances to snag Hayne this year is the Gold Coast Titans.

The loser? The fans.

And yes Hayne has broken down barriers and done the unthinkable by switching sports and making it in the NFL.

Rightly or wrongly, that’s all out the window dependent on what happens in the next twelve months.

With all due respect to the likes of SBW, Folau, Hunt and others – the perception of them is forever tainted.

Over to you, Jarryd.