Star signing won’t morph into Hayne-like circus, says Ex-Titan
CAMERON Smith will not be Jarryd Hayne 2.0.
Take that from David Shillington, the Titans’ other marquee recruit from 2016, when Hayne returned from the NFL in a shock mid-season switch to sign with Gold Coast.
It was the biggest signing in Gold Coast rugby league history to that point, but turned sour when Hayne was sensationally sacked 14 months later, leaving a broken salary cap position and a sacked coach in his wake.
“It was an absolute circus,” Shillington, now 37, said.
“He was getting paid a phenomenal amount ($1.2 million per season), having made the high-profile game switch.
“There was Hayne-Cam going on, it was the biggest high-profile signing I had ever seen.
“I think the Titans did well commercially out of it and we did make the finals … but it didn’t turn out too well the next year.”
It was a textbook example of a “saviour” signing, where a talented player was parachuted into a desperate club he believed he was bigger than.
Shillington can understand concerns of fans who fear that pursuing Smith is dooming the Titans to repeat the mistakes of the past, but Smith is not Hayne.
“I don’t think Smith would unsettle the culture the Titans are building,” the 215-game NRL prop said. “It’s that Maroons mentality, Smithy would never let it be a circus like that.
“He comes from that culture which he partly built with those greats, where it was never about you, it was about the team, the jersey and the state.”
Hayne’s tenure at the Titans was a disaster, with eight wins from 23 games between his signing and his sacking, following a six-game losing streak to close out the 2017 season.