Jarryd Hayne to quit Titans: Is Flying Fijians next?
News that Jarryd Hayne is keen to walk out on the Titans won’t come as a shock to many rugby league followers.
What may surprise is where he ends up.
In recent days there have been strong rumours that Hayne wanted to leave the Gold Coast, but not to join another NRL team in Sydney. To head to France for a crash course in rugby union before making a bid to represent Fiji at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. Sound far-fetched?
Since when did anything Jarryd Hayne do not sound far-fetched?
After attracting howls of derision after announcing his intention to “follow the dream” of playing in the NFL – and achieving what many believed was impossible – can we really discount anything? It is not as if the French rugby-RWC double hasn’t paid dividends before.
If Sonny Bill Williams can do it, why not the Hayne Plane? Apart from the fact that he has never been the same player that he was since returning from the US, that is.
After he had watched Hayne play for Fiji in a RLWC warm-up I received a message from a very well connected contact in the UK. While commenting that he couldn’t believe how much slower Hayne was than before his time in the NFL, he mentioned the strong mail over there linking him to French rugby.
“Word is he’ll play rugby in France as part of his dream to play for Fiji in the World Cup in Tokyo, “he said.
Apart from not fitting in with reports that he wants to return to Sydney to be closer to his daughter, it does make some sense.
As much as incoming Titans coach Garth Brennan says he is looking forward to working with Hayne, surely the possibility of not having to deal with the man who knifed his predecessor is an offer too good to refuse.
The only question is, where would that offer come from?
No Sydney side would have room under the salary cap to pay Hayne the AU$1 million a season he is earning on the Gold Coast next year, which means if the Titans are keen to off-load him to another NRL side they would have to keep paying the shortfall in his salary. But if he went to rugby, not only would they not be out of pocket, the rugby club would have to pay them compensation.
So if he really does want to return to Sydney then why not just go to the NSW Waratahs, you ask?
After seeing the disruption Hayne brought to the Titans, would Australian Rugby be keen on subsidising his pay-packet, especially if, as my man says, his intention is to play at the World Cup for Fiji and not the Wallabies?
No, the more you look at it, my man could be right on the money – and Jarryd Hayne’s latest dream could see the end of the Titan’s million dollar nightmare.