PARRAMATTA Eels great Ray Price has slammed Jarryd Hayne’s move to the Gold Coast Titans, saying the cross-code star had “shat on” his beloved club.
Despite Parramatta’s salary cap woes and off-field dramas, the Eels were widely seen as frontrunners for Hayne’s signature given his public pronouncements that he would only return to the NRL for the blue and gold.
Price, who played 258 games for the Eels between 1976-86, said the bombshell news stung all the more because of the way Parramatta bent over backwards to facilitate his dream of playing in the NFL.
“I’m a bit dirty because Parramatta helped him chase his dream and now he’s just shat on them,” Price fumed in an interview with foxsports.com.au.
“He didn’t fulfil his contract, Parramatta let him go in good faith.
“I just think that it’s a shitty thing that he’s done.
“Parramatta let him go to chase his dream, so really… I’m gutted.”
After letting off some steam, Price admitted he couldn’t blame Hayne for accepting the massive $1.2 million per year offer at the Titans.
He pointed the finger at former Eels chairman Steve Sharp — who is now deregistered by the NRL — for the club’s salary cap mess which muddied the waters in being able to table an offer for Hayne.
“I think that that may also have been a little bit of a turning point for him,” Price said.
“We can blame Sharp — put that as your headline.”
Ray Price, Brett Kenny and Nathan Hindmarsh at Parramatta Stadium.Source: News Limited
Brett Kenny, a 265-game Eels legend, was more measured than his former teammate.
While he would have loved Hayne to return to western Sydney, he understood the reasons for backflipping on his public pledge.
“I know before he left he said ‘if I come back, I’ll come back to Parramatta’,” Kenny told foxsports.com.au.
“But it’s a long time and there’s no guarantees in this game.
“One of the reasons he went to the NFL is because of what was going on at Parramatta.
“He hadn’t been paid money that he was supposed to be and all this sort of stuff.
“In the end, that could have been why he’s gone to the Gold Coast.
“That’s why it wasn’t such a big surprise to me.”
With the NRL now helping to run the Titans — who stunned the ladder-leading Cronulla Sharks with an 18-all draw in their last start — Kenny believed Hayne had made a smart business decision.
“He’s probably feeling a lot more confident that whatever he signs for, whatever agreements they come up with for him, that he will get paid,” Kenny said.
“I haven’t got a problem with it, I would have loved to have seen him sign with Parramatta but I fully understand.
“People have got to realise it’s a business now.”
Ray Price, Nathan Hindmarsh and Brett Kenny at Coogee Beach Palace.Source: News Corp Australia
Kenny had sympathy for long suffering Eels fans and accepted their right to be angry.
“But there will always be someone after Jarryd Hayne,” Kenny said.
“There was always someone after Peter Sterling, there was always someone after Ray Price.”
Once the bitterness subsided, Kenny also believed there was no doubt Hayne’s legacy as a Parramatta legend was secure.
Hayne, a two-time Dally M Medallist, scored 103 tries in 176 games for the Eels between 2006-14.
“Once people calm down and start to think rationally, I think they’ll understand,” Kenny said.
“Jarryd Hayne will be remembered as a Parramatta player first and foremost.
“When fans talk about players, they always talk about the first club they play with.
“I think the same will happen with Jarryd Hayne.
“He’ll be regarded as one of the greats of the modern game.”
Former Eels player Jarryd Hayne celebrating after scoring a try at Parramatta Stadium in Sydney.Source: AAP
Nathan Hindmarsh was singing from a similar songsheet to Kenny.
A 330-game Parramatta legend and former teammate of Hayne, Hindmarsh understood the frustrations of Eels fans but pointed to Hayne’s press conference comments in that the decision was largely taken out of his hands.
“You’ve got to understand that this is a business and the offer was there from the Titans and it was obviously an offer that was too good to refuse,” Hindmarsh told Fox Sports News.
“If there was no offer tabled by the Eels, you can’t blame him.
“You’ve got to make hay while the sun shines.
“That was one of the reasons why Haynesy said he signed there, because the administration at the Eels is a bit all over the shop....
“$1.2 million a year — how do you say no to that, sunshine all year around.”
Hayne is expected to make his Titans debut against the Warriors on Sunday.
He will be under enormous pressure to perform and there will undoubtedly be rust after years out from the game.
'Parra didn't table an offer'
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After retiring from the NFL, Hayne had to rapidly shed weight and improve his conditioning in his failed bid to play sevens rugby for Fiji at the Rio Olympics.
The sevens training involved gruelling sand dune sessions which would hold him in good stead for a late season return to the NRL.
“He’s an excitement machine — the things we saw him do in ‘09, I don’t think we’ll ever see another player do those things again,” Hindmarsh said.
“The lungs will be hurting for a couple of weeks, but he’s an athlete, he’s been with the Fijian sevens side which is very much a conditioning sport, lung capacity-wise.
“He might hurt a bit, but two or three weeks he’ll be back to his best.
“He’s an athlete, he’s a talent, he’ll put bums on seats and he’ll look good in the sky blue during Origin period.”
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