Hayne praises Semi’s decision Daniell upset
In brief
Jarryd Hayne has applauded Semi Radradra’s decision to pursue a career in rugby union, backing his former Parramatta team-mate for stepping out of his comfort zone.
Radradra will link with French rugby club Toulon at the end of this season, knocking back an offer from the Eels to sign with the European giants on a deal believed to be worth in excess of $700,000 a year.
Hayne, who will make his Auckland Nines debut next month, is no stranger to a code-hopping adventure and admits he understands the appeal that will lure the Parramatta winger to the other side of the world next year.
‘‘You have to remember he’s got a rugby background as well,’’ Hayne said.
‘‘So being over there in Toulon, I guess, with a couple of Fijian boys there as well, it’s something that he’s been thinking about for a while.
‘‘He’s played league and now he wants to try it in union.
‘‘It’s a credit to him for wanting to step out of his comfort zone. For someone of his stature, he could have stayed in league and been very comfortable.
‘‘You have to put it in perspective, he’s going to one of the biggest clubs in the world. He’s going there with lots of expectation. It’s not like he’s going over there to fill in, he’s going there with lots of expectation and that brings up a lot of pressure. That’s a credit to him for taking that opportunity.’’
Hayne spent 12 months abroad living in the US as he achieved his dream of playing in the NFL with It's a credit to him wanting to step out of his comfort zone. the San Francisco 49ers.
While Hayne’s situation differs to Radradra, given the Titans No 1 gave up plenty of money without any guarantees to chase his American dream, the 28-year-old insists there are things in life that money can’t buy.
‘‘At the end of the day, it’s a job,’’ Hayne said.
‘‘If you got offered the same money to go work over in France, to go over there and work for a couple of years and eat some snails, you wouldn’t do it?
‘‘And if it doesn’t work out, you come back. Those things, you can’t buy that. I got to live in the States for 12 months. You can’t put a price on that. The adventure and seeing what’s around you, it’s an incredible experience.’’
Having left league as the best player in the game, and now that he has had a pre-season under his belt, the expectation is that Hayne will return to his brilliant best in 2017, but Hayne downplayed his potential by constantly referring to his desire to just have fun.
‘‘Let’s let the actions do talking,’’ Hayne said.
While he admits he was slightly off the pace in his return last year, he says the rugby league nous remains.
‘‘The engine off,’’ he said.
‘‘I didn’t have the pre-season and had only come back for a few weeks. But from an education point of view, I didn’t lose anything. I’d been away for two years and came back and nothing really changed for me.
‘‘I look at the game and I don’t look at any situations and think I’ve never seen that before or I don’t know what’s happened. I watch the games and it’s still very familiar too me.’’
Hayne will room, begin I his was a the season bit at the Auckland Nines, a tournament that is tailor-made for a player of his ability, desperate to get on the paddock after working tirelessly to get his body right during a gruelling pre-season.
Bevan French set a new tryscoring record at the Nines last year, but it was his finish to the regular season that has Parramatta fans convinced they’ve unearthed the best thing since Hayne himself.
Hayne worked with the Eels under-20s last year before he joined the Titans, hearing the noise about French well before he made his NRL debut.
‘‘I did a bit of work with the 20s last year at Parra mid-year,’’ Hayne said.
‘‘Burty [Luke Burt] was the coach and he was just telling me about him and a couple of the other players.
‘‘He was definitely one that said had a big future ahead.
‘‘He’s an absolute freak. He’s going to be great. He’s such an entertaining player as well.
‘‘To see him come on and kill it at the end of the year was awesome.’’ he Tennis: New Zealand doubles specialist Marcus Daniell has continu his good form at the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday with an upse victory over the sixth seeds including big comeback in the second set. Daniell and Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner took on Raven Klaasen (South Africa) and Rajeev Ram (Unite States) ranked 11 and 12 in the world respectively and scored a 6-1 7-6 (4) win to go into the third round. "We went out hot in the first set and destroyed them. It was great tennis,’’ Daniell said. ‘‘Overall a good match fo us and we’ve improved a lot over the last couple of weeks.’’ Daniell and Demoliner will now face the unseede Australian team of Sam Groth and Chris Guccione.