Teammates deserve credit: Hayne
CHRIS BARRETT
April 20, 2010
JARRYD HAYNE told us it wasn't a one-man show - we just didn't believe him. The freakishly talented Eels fullback has been proven right, with Parramatta's potentially season-turning win over South Sydney achieved with their No.1 taking a back seat.
Hayne, the inspiration of the Eels' miraculous run to the 2009 grand final and of their only previous win this season against Manly, said yesterday it was about time his teammates received due credit.
He admitted the constant attention on his own deeds had annoyed him. ''You've got blokes like Hindy [Nathan Hindmarsh] and [Nathan] Cayless, especially the forwards working hard, and not getting credit for it and [people] giving me all the credit,'' Hayne told the Herald. ''It does put you off a bit because I know how hard they actually work and they don't get the credit. I knew it wasn't a one-man team.''
Hayne, last year's Dally M medal winner, has at times made it seem as if he was the only man on the field, with some incredible displays of instinctive skill.
Even Parramatta coach Daniel Anderson has been caught up in the hype, admitting Hayne single-handedly won their round-two game against the Sea Eagles after they had trailed 20-0. The 22-year-old superstar said his minor role in their second win of the year, over the Rabbitohs on Sunday at ANZ Stadium, proved what he had been saying all along.
''I've said it from the start, when we started going well [last year] - it's a team effort,'' Hayne said. ''The boys really put in the hard yards up front and I was able to sort of gain off that. It's finally starting to show that it is a team effort.''
Hayne was successfully closed down by Souths and did minimal damage as a result, but there was a downside for the Rabbitohs. With all eyes on Hayne, Timana Tahu and Luke Burt ran amok. Hayne said it was now ''just a given'' that he would be marked heavily.
''I think the team is starting to realise that when I do get marked there are other strike weapons,'' he said. ''As a team everyone knows they can have just as much impact as I can. [Tahu] is a great player and a great athlete. Obviously he had to find his feet and [Sunday] was a real classy game for him.''
There were signs in the latter portion of the match, Hayne said, of the free-wheeling type of football that Parramatta employed after a similarly slow start last season. ''It was getting like that - we were all playing together and things were just clicking for us,'' he said.
''We were just rubbish [in the earlier rounds]. Hopefully it doesn't hurt us at the back end of the year. There was obviously a lot of pressure on us so it was good to get off the mark.''
