More of the same from Hayne
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday August 3, 2009
JARRYD HAYNE scored two tries and led the statistics for metres gained, tackle busts and line breaks in yet another man of the match performance for Parramatta yesterday €“ but still the messages from the coach's box kept coming."His teammates like seeing him with the ball in his hands and we like seeing him with the ball in his hands but today the game went around him," Eels coach Daniel Anderson explained. "[So] we had to send a message to get his hands on the ball and get into the game."Given that he laid on the first of Parramatta's five tries for Joel Reddy in just the seventh minute and had started a movement that almost led to Luke Burt scoring a few tackles earlier, it's hard to know when the first message went out to the 21-year-old NSW Origin star but Anderson said they had been frequent."About 10 times," the coach said when asked how many times he'd sent a trainer on to the field to speak with his star fullback. "He can break open the game, and he did that. He's had a big, big year so far so we have a very high benchmark and expectation of Jarryd Hayne's play, and I didn't think he was too far off the benchmark he sets."Perhaps because he knows what Hayne is capable of doing, Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart declared that the Sharks had contained him as much as could be expected in their 30-0 defeat."I thought we did a good job on him today. His form is very good," Stuart said.Anderson agreed, saying: "They did a good job there. But he coasts up every now, and he's got some special plays in him. He still scores two tries and runs for a couple of hundred metres and handles the ball 25 times a game."Asked about his performance, Hayne acknowledged that he hadn't been as involved as Anderson would have liked, and said he was aware of the expectations on him now."That comes with the territory and maturity and realising my place in the team," he told the Herald. "But I had to pick my time to come in and have an impact on the game."Despite the repeated sideline messages, Anderson said Hayne was an influential figure in team talks, and revealed how the young winger had organised veteran second-rowers Nathan Hindmarsh and Joe Galavao for an attacking play he wanted to put on in the second half."As he comes to feel more comfortable with this responsibility, he has verbally opened up a bit," Anderson said. "He talks at half-time, and he challenges the coaching staff at training sessions. He spoke at half-time about players running a certain play, and said he would be there, and he did it. He asked the second-rowers to do something for him, and he said, 'I will be there,' and he was. Those things come from confidence and experience."Stuart, who handed Hayne his Test debut in 2007 when he coached Australia, said it was obvious how much the Eel had matured €“ on and off the field."He hit first grade very early, he hit representative football very early, and I think that's been very good for his maturity," Stuart said. "He was making those teams because of his ability but the experience he got from the players around him has really helped him now, I think."He just seems to me to be showing a bit more responsibility with his football. I always think players perform on the football field the way they live their life off it, and I reckon Jarryd would be looking after himself and showing a bit of commitment off the field at the moment because he's certainly playing that way on the field."
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
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