During the early minutes of the opening State of Origin match of 2017 it appeared as though Jarryd Hayne has lost some of his legendary zip.
During those opening minutes of the match he looked downright pedestrian, and you couldn’t help but start thinking, “Is he past it?”. But just as you thought he had seen better days, he pulls some of that star quality we all know he possesses out of thin air.
He looked up and showed vision: he played what was in front of him and completed two palm-offs – one towards opposite Justin O’Neill and the other Dane Gagai. He couldn’t have cared less what their records of rugby achievement were – he treated them as though they were rolling pins, pushing them to the side.
His right-hand fends are coupled with an in and away followed by space created and an overlap – he’s poetry in motion – he then offloads a crisp pass to Brett Morris, and off Morris goes, heading towards the try line, and only a last-gasp effort from Gagai brings him down inches before the stripe.
A mere mortal could not pull off what Hayne did, and you quickly realise he is no mere mortal – he is one of the greats of the big stage and worth all the hype, and then some.
To steal a phrase from Phil Gould, Jarryd is back, baby. It was one of those big plays that made the opposition realise they had a match on their hands. It inspired his own teammates to do wonderful things on the field. They looked up and saw what their star teammate had just achieved.
Hayne hasn’t played 21 Origin matches for New South Wales for no reason, and this is why he was selected in the first place – to inspire confidence in his teammates. He has an Andrew Johns-like influence on his less experienced teammates. They all look up to him and hang off his every word and action.
(Image: AAP Image/Dan Peled)
No wonder NSW felt so confident so as to have a five-minute captain’s run. This was the most talented NSW team selected since 2005. Hayne simply added to that legend.
All 16 of his teammates followed his lead on the field. Andrew Fifita had a blinder and in career-best form. Fifita is now synonymous with big Arthur Beetson with his man-of-the-match performance.
James Tedesco, Nathan Peats, James Maloney, Wade Graham – the list goes on. There wasn’t a bad player in blue, and they were all inspired by Hayne and his feats.
Any centre or winger worth their salt will tell you what Hayne did in that passage of play cannot be coached. It’s purely instinctive play carried out in the heat of the moment. Hayne would have known he was bigger and stronger than his adversaries in front of him, using all of that memory from all his years playing sport across three codes.
Yet for all of his mastery, Hayne is an enigma. He can look uninterested and distant as though he couldn’t care less about his sport. There has been much written about his disdain for training and how he doesn’t care for it, marching to the beat of his own drum.
His own track and field background may explain some reasoning for the above. To be a track and field athlete you often need to be a self-centred athlete, it is an individual sport after all.
A track and field athlete has to be selfish to achieve their goals, and many people don’t understand that in Jarryd’s mindset. He would have been thinking along the lines of wanting to train like a track and field athlete, yet he has to conform and train to a set of standards that may not suit him or his game.
Many people question his work ethic and even throw the arrogant label at him, but he is misunderstood by many. He’s not lazy, he just picks his time to rest, his time to train and his time to play. He wants to train like an Olympic sprinter, but team sports do not allow for that, so he fits in the best he can.
During a lowly club match he can appear uninterested, but put him in an Origin or test match and he is a different beast. The real Jarryd Hayne stands up and comes to the fore.
This is what makes him so great. He knows when to pick and choose his moments. Who else from the NRL could pack up and head to San Francisco to become a 49er in such a short space of time?
This is the conundrum of Hayne’s legacy. People are so confused by him, but they are slowly waking up, warming to him and realising this is Jarryd’s way. Daley selected him for Origin 1 because he knew he was a big-time performer, and he said as much.
He is now given more latitude than in the past. He was once seen as a petulant child who wouldn’t toe the line, but the truly great coaches know Hayne is more complex than most – he is like a bright kid in class who becomes distracted and bored when the subject matter is too easy. He regresses, and this is the reason he pursued his NFL dream in the United States.
(Image: AP Photo/Tony Avelar)
He wants to keep challenging himself, telling the Sydney Morning Herald, “I’m so passionate about the challenge that lies ahead for me, not only as an athlete but more so as a person.”
He played eight NFL matches on a steep learning curve, having to learn a playbook full of moves that ordinarily take years to master, but to his credit he learnt the playbook in a matter of months.
He impressed during his time playing NFL, but now he has come full circle – after some criticism for being a mercenary during his Fijian rugby sevens adventur, his is back in rugby league heartland and loving doing what he does best.
He has done everything in the game bar one. He has won an Origin series, the four-nations and a world cup for Australia and the Dally M player of the year. He even inspired his former team Parramatta to a grand final appearance during his golden run of 2009.
But he is yet to win that elusive premiership himself – though he belongs to a rapidly improving Gold Coast Titans outfit who have one won and drawn one in their last two starts against premiers Cronulla Sharks.
Not even Melbourne possess that great recent record against the reigning premiers, and one would be remiss to write off legendary enigma Jarryd Hayne.
If the Titans are in prime position and do manage to go deep into the final series over the next season or two, anything is possible with this game-changing superstar searching for the one remaining title to add to his sporting resume. Wouldn’t that be something to see and savour?
The enigma who becomes a legend in paradise – anything is possible with this sporting prodigy who has grown in stature over the years. Anyone who wants to write him off does so at their own peril.
Dr Yes
Guest
I agree with the Author in pointing out Hayne's brilliance. Some commenters say Hayne lacks involvement. There's truth to that, this year. But he is warming his way back into the game and had a big outage earlier this year with a leg injury - which must be a concern at his age and in his position. And he's had a few club games back from injury out-of-preferred-position, at centre. On the other hand, in his last full year he won the Dally M (with Thurston). Where he was easily his backline's major contributor. Similar (maybe with some off-patches) for the 5 or 6 years before that. He was always the Eels go-to man. I can't recall a back scoring so many fantasy points as he did in 2014. Through impact and involvement. In the 2nd half of that season, he averaged above 70 fantasy points/game from fullback. That's phenomenal & a fair bit above 'Cam Smith and Corey Parker level'. (Yeah, I know that's only fantasy stats... whatever). And he was pretty much the difference in NSW winning Origin that year too! All of that is why he bit the bullet and tried NFL... Totally fair for commenters to question his improvement curve this year, but not fair to overly rewrite his past. Just saying. Good article, Caroline. :)
Albo
Guest
Baz, I will go and watch the replay of the game and check my facts !
Kreig
Guest
One day, he's going to celebrate like that, slip off or miss the fence, and hurt himself. Or much worse, accidentally tag a kid's hand or face. Running over to the crowd? No problem. Jumping up on the fence feet (footy boots and tags) first? Should be banned. I also have the same sentiment towards when Slater went through that period of dangerously defending his line feet first. Just not safe, and should be banned.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Exactly.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Hayne does the Hayne Plane because he likes celebrating, not because he is trying to "promote himself for his next venture." I mean, come on, he does it because it's fun, a spontaneous celebratory act. I seriously don't get any of this supposed criticism. You even said "Don’t get me wrong, I actually think he’s harshly judged" and then you followed this up with "The bloke is extremely unlikable" I mean, which is it? All the guy has done is celebrate a try. If you aren't into celebrating a try, fair enough. But geez, the long bow keeps getting drawn when it comes to criticism of the man.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
"No doubt a talented player but too much an individualist to excel in a team sport." World Cup winner, Origin winner, Dally M winner, Grand Finalist, uhm, he has excelled in a team sport....
Scott
Guest
At work, my belief is he will sign a smaller contract. He gets publicity but let's in too many points
Scott
Guest
He defends poorly and leaves his winger alone way too often, this happens each week and also happened in State of Origin. He has been a poor buy on the field for the Titans, off the field maybe not.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
"A player can hope for top dollar..." Can't argue with that.
The Barry
Roar Guru
What outcome do I want? Nothing, I'm just discussing the game the same as you and everyone else here is doing. If you're happy with his defence - great. I've objectively pointed out three occasions where he made bad reads. I've pointed out two club games in the past month where he's been found wanting defensively. Tell me where Ive got it wrong? Three games at centre? Well, he just played an origin there so that's four and has been playing centre for the Titans for the last month or so. I don't know how long Mal will spend analysing Haynes defence but given Walters is Queensland coach he'll probably spend a bit of time if he's got a brain in his nut. What do you mean it doesn't seem to perturb Daley or Henry? How do you know that? Talk about legless comments...I'm at least trying to be objective about what's happening on the field than guess at the mindset of two people I don't know...
The Barry
Roar Guru
One of his defensive errors was when Maloney marked up on Cronk as he should have but Hayne didn't jam in on Gillett who was the next player and Haynes man. No second man play, no miss by Maloney. The next was where he flew out of the line and took no one. Smith simply held up the pass and put O'Neill into empty space where Hayne should have been. The third was on the 5th. Morris dropped back for a kick but so did Hayne who stood about 15 metres behind the defensive line in no mans land. Smith at first receiver ran instead of kicking again put O'Neill into open space at Hayne who was now retreating. It was extremely poor positioning to the point of being inexplicable. It was like he thought he was playing wing. He may well have been nervous playing outside Maloney but the reads were his and not directly contributed to by Maloney. There are loads of other players who play inside and outside poor defenders every week without making these poor reads.
souvalis
Guest
True Albo..if there's no communication in the defensive line,particularly in this instance from inside..and as was the case according to coach Henry in the Storm game..you're going to get done.. Honestly don't really know what outcome you want from this Barry..what are you after..you've gone on and on about this and it's pretty legless. Haynes played center 16 times in his career..3 tests there for Australia 7 tries..and you're labeling him a poor defender on 3 games ? Is that the size of your sample..3 games ? Doesn't seem to even slightly perturb those that matter,coaches Daly and Henry . Do you think Mal will seriously spend more time than a nanosecond on Haynes 'minor relative to the Captain's defensive' concern ? Nor,do I.
thomas c
Guest
There are other good players that don't come with the same kinds of baggage. And as a purist, i want the sport to be the working person's game. Not be infested with bravado characteristic of NFL (eg. comical hyper masculine posturing like chest pounding), and star worship. The notion that someone is a special case and that rules don't apply could be corrosive.
kk
Roar Pro
I'm with you Dutski. Your assessment of Hayne was honest, fair and factual. You have both feet on the ground, others may not.
Albo
Guest
I tend to agree with you Judge ! I would move Hayne to fullback, Roberts to 6 and Elgey to reserve grade till he learns to tackle. Copely or Sarginson to left centre.
Albo
Guest
But Baz , you need to take into account the extra issues Hayne has to deal with in defence at both SOO and with the Titans as the left centre. He has defensive speed humps directly inside him in both teams ( Maloney & Elgey) and opposing teams attack them there constantly. Any wonder he makes some bad reads there through understandable lack of trust of his adjacent team mates.
Dutski
Roar Guru
No envy, mate. People seem to be reading my posts and think I'm down on the man. I'll try and spell it out. The guy does amazing things. I want to see more of it. It frustrates me that I don't get to! He's great- and I want to see him be even better.
Albo
Guest
Spot on Scott ! Hayne made 14 tackles and missed 1. The guy inside him Maloney ( who probably contributed to Hayne's missed tackle ) made 13 tackles and missed 9. Any wonder Hayne was a little nervous on the left edge trying to trust Maloney who has missed 68 tackles in 11 games for the Sharks and that's with strong defenders Wade Graham in side him and Ricky Leutele outside him . It's exactly the problem Hayne has to deal with at the Titans trying to cover for Elgey's regular misses inside him there. This is the one major defensive flaw in the NSW make up around Maloney and we will see it attacked further in Game 2. Whilst Dugan on the right side too was out of sorts in Game 1, missing tackles and running sideways, he was short of a gallop after his injury ( lucky to have been selected) , but he will surely be stronger for Game 2. As will Hayne with a couple more games under his belt.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Well it's not based on one game. Haynes positioning has been caught out a few times recently at club level. Dylan Walker exposed him as did Will Chambers. But even if we accept Cameron Smith's defence is a BIGGER concern, that doesn't mean that Hayne's defence is NOT a concern. So I'm not really sure what your point is because I'm not remotely questioning who is a better defender between Smith and Hayne.
Don
Guest
He is a world beater - I have been watching rugby league since 1968 - Hayne is the best athlete I have seen play the game in that time and by some distance - what he did in the NFL was insane! Is he arrogant - I've never met the bloke so I wouldn't know. Certainly he plays with the arrogance of a Champion. Get over the envy and enjoy the talents of a freak!