Hayne second coming turns damp squib
THE Hayne Plane has never seen it this bad in all his years at Parramatta.
There were tears in the Eels sheds for a second straight week on Friday night after their 24-14 loss to the New Zealand Warriors.
The finals hopes are well and truly over as the cellar-dwellers chase a rare win up north against the pumped-up Broncos on Thursday.
Beau Scott suffered a suspected ACL injury that is likely to drop the curtain down on his decorated 14-year career.
It’s understood Tony Wil- liams, another Eels player who suffered a season-ending ACL injury earlier this season, accompanied Scott for scans late Friday.
Jarryd Hayne never envisaged his Eels secondcoming to start off this way, especially with the club tipped to push for the title.
‘‘But there’s no other crew I’d rather do this with,’’ Hayne said.
‘‘For what has happened to us and how bad we’ve gone, this squad is the tightest I’ve ever been in at Parra. They’re not giving up.
‘‘It’s probably why they’re so emotional after the game. I’ve never seen guys get so emotional. There were tears last week. Even GETTY IMAGES Friday night.
‘‘It’s been hectic. You couldn’t have written a worse script.
‘‘But we all love playing with each other. It’s genuine.
‘‘That’s why the results are so frustrating, even for the blokes who aren’t playing. It’s killing us.
‘‘I’ve been in teams where it’s nowhere near as bad as this [with results], but from a changeroom point of view we were.’’
Eels coach Brad Arthur said for what felt like the eleventh straight week his players dished up ‘‘dumb footy’, and while the effort was good, ‘‘effort is not enough to win an NRL game against good teams’’.
Supporters will be delighted about the players’ bond, but they’d rather a few more wins.
Those same supporters will also need to wait a little longer for Hayne to return from a hip injury, with next Thursday’s trip to Brisbane unlikely, and the Knights game in 11 days time more realistic.
‘‘I won’t rush it like last time, I’m running, it’s just when I step off and need to put all my weight through the leg,’’ Hayne said.
Hayne played with Scott on the Origin arena and was devastated for the tough-as-nails backrower nicknamed ‘Milat’, especially if the scans confirmed the worst. The Sun-Herald