August 13 2016 - 10:48PM
Fox, Nine battle to land the Hayne plane
Danny Weidler
For the past two weeks we've seen Jarryd Hayne cam, a camera trained purely on the cross-code star. And it won't be the last time we see television networks giving Hayne special attention.
Fox Sports and the Nine Network are exploring the idea of making Hayne part of their sporting coverage. Hayne's agent, Wayne Beavis, is due to meet Fox's head of live sport, Steve Crawley, this week. And it's understood conversations have been held with NRL Footy Show boss Glenn Pallister.
Hayne has previously done a deal with Telstra, but he has not had an arrangement with a TV network. Hayne has done plenty with Channel Nine, including a major interview on 60 Minutes with Karl Stefanovic and a special, Aussie Hero, American Dream, which was produced by Wes Hardman and voiced by Ken Sutcliffe. So there is a Nine link.
Also under way are talks about the Titans using Hayne's No.38 for merchandising. The Titans, the NRL and Beavis are discussing possibilities.
At this point it would appear unlikely that he will be allowed to wear the 38, but there are worse things the NRL could let through.
Be sure of one thing, among all the mania surrounding Hayne,
the Titans have not forgotten the role player agent Chris Orr played in trying to get Hayne back to the Eels. Orr found out that Phone A Flight founder Norm Black was willing to tip in $400,000 to bring Hayne to the Gold Coast, so Orr tried to get Black and his money to help bring Hayne back to Parramatta. Eels coach Brad Arthur is a client of Orr's company, Pacific Sports Management.
The Titans might have been able to wear that from another agent or agency, but not from PSM. It also manages Daly Cherry-Evans. He bought a house on the Gold Coast and then backflipped on the Titans in the most infamous about-face in recent league history.
PSM used to have a very cosy relationship with the Gold Coast. It had an office in the same complex as the Titans and has a stack of players on the Titans books, most of them signed prior to new boss Graham Annesley taking charge.
Annesley doesn't have the same relationship with PSM as those who previously ran the club and he doesn't make it as easy for PSM. It certainly doesn't have the same number of players at the club or the same influence.
