JARRYD Hayne is not a man for excuses, regrets or contrived apologies, particularly when his inner beliefs are challenged.
And that’s part of the reason Hayne stood his ground amid the brief but intense storm whipped up over his appearance in a Snapchat video taken by Hell’s Angels bikie and former Titan Chris Bloomfield at the club’s season-ending party.
Hayne was criticised for associating with an alleged criminal who flashed $5000 and quipped he got it from Hayne but, speaking for the first time about the incident, Hayne strongly defends his actions.
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The superstar, who said the money was not his, said he knew nothing of Bloomfield’s criminal record, and even if he did he found it hard to be judgmental of people who did no harm to him, as his religious beliefs centred around rehabilitation not rejection.
It was one of many observations he made in his first expansive interview since arriving at the Titans, after an exotic journey which started at Parramatta and took him through the San Francisco 49ers NFL team, then to Fijian rugby where he failed to make their Olympic team.
Hayne has also revealed the great anguish he experienced in abandoning his old club Parramatta, details of the time he showed off the skills of Greg Inglis to American talent scouts, and how the “awesome’’ potential of the Titans has him excited.
Hayne and Amellia Bonnici are set to become parents for the first time at the end of the year, but Hayne said he would prefer to keep his thoughts on becoming a father private “at this stage’’.
THE TITANS
IT MAY have been a circuitous route, but Hayne senses he has landed at a club just about to sprout its wings.
“The Titans have an awesome future. I have never played (rugby league) in a one-team town before, and I’m really enjoying it. Ash Taylor had a great year last year. He understands he is the talker. He takes pressure off me and I taken pressure off him by being at the back.
“Kane Elgey came back, with our first session back he threw a cut-out pass; I have never seen anything like it. Someone sprayed him and I said ‘you can’t stop talent’. He threw it from under the posts and it hit the winger on the chest.’’
“I was hesitant early. I wanted to find my groove in the team. I do what I do. They are such a grinding team that when that flair comes it mixed it up. We have great potential.’’
THE MOVE
HAYNE is not easily rattled, but the decision not to return to Parramatta when he returned to Australia became the most emotional he has made.
He feels he had little choice, and that it may yet prove a blessing due to the rising tide of performance and optimism of the Titans.
That he is looking to buy a house on the Coast is a statement of his contentment.
He was so uncertain of his future the day he made his decision in a Gold Coast cafe his first move after it was to go and buy clothes and a hotel room for the long stay, which seemed uncertain earlier in the day.
“I came up here two or three times. I really liked the good vibe. The Titans was the furthest from a rivalry Parra had with all the teams.
“I was supposed to fly up to the Coast on Monday but I said ‘there was no point ... I am going to Parra. But I heard Parra would not have a contract ready until Tuesday that was when I flipped. I had been here for three weeks and they were putting me off. It was not my fault or Parra’s fault. Just the situation they were in.
“So I just went the airport and luckily a lady at Virgin knew who I was and I just produced my credit card and got a ticket and went to the Coast and I met with Bec (Gold Coast Titans chairwoman Rebecca Frizelle) and their presentation was awesome.
“But I was up-front. I said, ‘I want to go to Parra ... that is where my heart is. If that does not happen I am with you.’ They were great.
“I was rattled. I said to Beav (manager Wayne Beavis) ‘What is going on?’ and he said Parra were struggling with the salary cap. I love Brad and the guys. It was the most emotional decision I have made.’’
THE BIKIE
THE entire Bloomfield incident left him frustrated.
“It was bullshit, the whole ‘he is a bikie, you should know ...’ How am I supposed to know?’’ Hayne said.
“Let’s put this is perspective. I am at a raceday and a guy comes who used to play at the club. He knows half the guys there.
“Then we go back to one of the guys houses and we get carried away doing karaoke. He Snapchats it for a laugh, then it becomes ‘how can we make the article which can sell papers’.
“I don’t know his record. How would I change that situation? Maybe I should not have been singing but I was being a clown. I have had hundreds of people Snapchat me singing. I like singing when I get carried away.
“Fair enough the guy has a history ... but to come out and call me a gangster. I feel sometimes people ask me to do an interview when things go wrong they get the gloves out.
“My thing is, if I meet someone who is a bad person, if they ain’t bad around me I won’t remove myself and they don’t have to remove themselves.
“I believe people can change, but it is hard for them to change in some crowds. From the church perspective it is said that it is not the healthy that need the doctors it is the sick. Everyone, me included, need help every day.’’
THE INGLIS TAPES
HAYNE is so convinced Greg Inglis could have been an NFL star he even took it upon himself to show Inglis’ highlight reel to talent scouts without Inglis even being aware of it.
The results were just as he thought.
“When I showed his tape to some scouts and they thought he was amazing,’’ Hayne said.
“They asked whether he would come over.
“Inglis at 18-19, when he was he was a skinny kid in around 2006, would have been the best (NRL prospect for American football) there has ever been.
“He is bigger now and he is custom made for a wide receiver. He is 6 foot four and runs like the wind. He would have been unbelievable.
“The scouts were even talking about how fluent he runs and the way he foot come back behind his arse. He has that terrific extension of his legs and his hips.’’
FIJI SEVENS
EVEN before he was told by the coaching staff, Hayne accepted his bid to make the Fiji Sevens team for the Olympics had failed.
“I could see it coming. I was doing everything I could but I came from NFL. The Fiji boys were playing tournaments, getting beaten up and resting, and they could go up and up.
“I couldn’t. Every week was getting harder. For two weeks I was with them, but in the third I did a quad. By week five the coach knew I could get there but he did not want to cut someone else who had been going well. I was cool with it. I still had a ball.’’
Hayne still retains great affection for Fiji, and when he returned there last week for a golf tournament the skills of local players in catch games he played took his breath away.
“We were going out to local villages and playing touch. Blokes there had better skills than me in shorter areas. It was the funniest thing. I wish a cameras camera. We had a blokes in gumboots. They were unbelievable and we were playing on rocks. It was hand movement and body language.’’
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OBSERVATIONS FROM AN AUUSIE IN THE NFL
1. THANKS, BUT ...
Hayne had a rapport with the San Francisco 49ers buffet chefs who once took him aside and whispered that they could get him some kangaroo meat. “It was awesome and hilarious. They said it would make me feel like home. I preferred their steaks.’’
2. CUT-THROAT CENTRAL
Hayne reckons people do not appreciate how ruthless the NFL is.
“You see a lot of guys on the fringe saying ‘I can’t afford to go on. I have to get a job’. Shaun Draughn, a second-string running back for San Fran, has two kids and had eight teams in three years. This year he has an $800,000 deal but if he has one bad game he could be cut.’’
3. ABOUT THE VIBE
When he watches NFL games at home, it strikes him how much he misses the vibe. “Just seeing the crowd and cars. Very rarely you see multi-storey car parks because they all tailgate, play music and eat and drink. I miss that. The game starts three hours early in the car park.’’
4. THE VIDEO SPY
Hayne spent two hours a day doing video reviews at the 49ers and it left a mark. He now does much more rugby league video watching and will go back three or four games preparing for a match.
5. THE BRAIN BUSTERS
Predictions it would be challenging for Hayne to learn complex NFL playbooks were spot on. “I don’t think people realised how hard I had to work and study. It was ridiculous. We had 300 plays. For the first four weeks, I just did not get it. I am not used to someone saying “tricks, chad, scat” and that being a play. ‘’
6. BIG-NAME FANS
The NFL is followed by a celebrity fan base including boxing great Floyd Mayweather who followed Hayne on Twitter.
“He was having a huge fight in Vegas (against Manny Pacquiao) and said if I was there to come and watch the fight.’’
7. LESS IS MORE
Hayne is fascinated Australian sport is a weekend “smorgasbord’’ with a multitude of sports to choose from, but NFL fans get just eight home games a season.
“They don’t need any sponsors, there is nothing on their jerseys. They figure the less games they have the more important they are. And it works.’’
8. UNSTOPPABLE BUS
It was not hard to see Hayne and his team coming because they had a police escort to every game.
“The only time I remember the bus stopping was in New York. Otherwise it’s flat stick at 100mph.’’
9 BEST MOMENT
Hayne’s 53-yard run with his second touch of the ball was his favourite moment as an NFL player. “It will stand out forever. Everyone was sceptical. It was a huge weight off my shoulders.”
10 LOW-KEY EXIT
When he quit the 49ers to try out for Fiji’s Olympian Sevens squad Hayne never got the chance to say goodbye to teammates.
“It happened on the weekend. I walked in, told the GM and went. There was no shaking hands but mate they are used to that.”
