Oh, the Hayne Plane. Always with the drama.
Gold Coast Titans star Jarryd Hayne stepped forward on Wednesday to put those pesky reporters back in their box, claiming he had nothing to do with the demise of coach Neil Henry, who was sacked earlier this week. He then accused Henry of leaking stories about him to NRL 360's Paul Kent.
It was an extraordinary slur on his former coach. It could also cost him a whack of money if it's not right. Kent denies Henry leaked him anything about Hayne.
Henry texted on Thursday night, when asked about the possibility of legal action: "Best not to comment other than what Kent said was correct about us not talking all year."
Props to hayne for talking to the media because others certainly would not, but we had a little chuckle at one line from the Titans' $2.4 million fullback.
Asked how he felt about claims he was a "coach killer", he said this: "It hasn't been that bad because I understand the media. You guys are there to sell papers, not write truths. That's something I've become accustomed to. When you understand that you don't take it too personally."
That remark cocked a few eyebrows — it even prompted the odd eye-roll — from his NSW teammates given Hayne's remarks during this year's Origin series.
You might recall them. They were dynamite. He revealed after the Blues' win in game one how he had "gone to hell and back" in the first half, collapsing and vomiting in the dressing-room at half-time. "I was rooted," Hayne said in the lead-up to game two. "I actually collapsed in the change rooms; [I was] spewing up. I was sitting there going, 'f---, I could be the first centre [in Origin history] to get substituted'.
"It ended up being Duges. And Duges was behind me [in the change rooms] ... I'm collapsing and he was just that buggered as well that he was looking at me like a zombie. My legs just got like jelly. I haven't lost my legs like that at half-time, that was pretty scary. If I hadn't put my head on to the table and crouched down, I was gone.
"But you've just got to go out there and just keep going. Like I said, you've got to go to hell and back, so I wasn't really scared about it. I was f---ed, but it is what it is."
It is what it is ... even if it wasn't.
Several people within the NSW dressing room scoffed at these comments when Hayne first made them. They recalled no such thing happening. At all.
That first half was described by both NSW and Queensland players as the fastest footy they've ever played, but Hayne's description of his own performance did not go down well with some teammates and coaching staff.
So he should be a little careful when throwing around accusations about "the truth". Hayne Plane. Always with the drama.
