Eels Blogs

Like many distraught fans still reeling from the shock news of Jarryd Hayne’s turning his back on the Eels & NRL to pursue a career in the NFL the burning question is...WHY?

Now as we search through the wreckage to find some solace of what caused this to inevitably to happen the answers to this may have been staring us blatantly in the face for some time.

Beware of the Tweet

If we cast our minds back 12 months when Sticky did the best thing for the Club in years by up and leaving and there was rumblings Hayne would seek a release of his contract to join the Bulldogs I find it interesting his Twitter response to hose down any speculation he was disenchanted by the tweet he posted along the lines of “Looks like it’s the Eels for 2014 & 2015”. Is it just me or was this an unusual thing to say more along the lines of I am stuck with what I have got at the moment but when times up I am out of here.

There is no “I” in team

From day one BA has tried to drum into the entire squad that the team is not just about Hayne it’s all about everyone in the squad needs to understand what their role is and play to the best of their ability. Sure this is Coaching 101 type stuff but what I find interesting is Hayne just like his Hillsong faith has also been a big believer of this preaching  in Press Conferences after games many times possibly in the endeavour that more times this is said over and over it would be instilled in all the players that should not need to solely rely on him. From what has now has come out after the announcement Jarryd’s mind has been made up for some time and trying to downplay the reliance placed upon him in his mind was probably trying to minimise the magnitude of the impact of his pending departure.

Origin Hangover

 Resting Hayne for the games after the origins came as a surprise to us all and some questioned his loyalty or if he was soft. We will never know whether it was BA’s trying to preserve him for the season or was Hayne the driving force behind this to ensure he did not obtain a season ending injury that could cruel his chance of trying to market himself as a potential NFL star recruit at the peak of his powers. Jointly winning the Dally M with JT no doubt would have earned him more clout trying to pitch his case trying to attract an NFL contract.

All Quiet On The Beavis Front

Wayne Beavis has probably been  resigned to the fact his No.1 client was not going to stick around in the NRL. With Hayne’s performances this year Beavis would not need to take any Cialis to get rock hard with the bucks he would have landed with an extension of contract with the Eels or if his market value was tested and if a bigger price tag could be offered by another NRL club to lure him away. We were told there was no rush for an extension and Hayne was admit if he wasn’t happy at the Club would be long gone and was this just a smoke screen or act of diversion to what his true plans were. I don’t know how the ‘Free Agent’ thing works in US with player manager’s but with the amount of effort Beavis is showing I hardly doubt he will be spruiking “Show Me The Money” to NFL clubs in an attempt to get JH’s signature.

We Got Bushed & Shat on From Above

Call me cynical but you cannot tell me the timing of Reggie Bush recently coming out here to promote NFL in Australia when god knows who previously has done this (or if anyone ever) or the pow-wow talks Jarryd had with his Yankee buddy did not have an influence on concreting his decision. If it was not this surely it was the recent trip he made to visit the facilities and way of life in the NFL. Let’s not forget the first article we knew of this was a Club planned trip with Hayne, Coach BA and other players would make the trip this summer. If alarm bells were not ringing by then seeing Hayne had pretty much picked up his bags after the Raiders game and was in LA “Hans Solo” us poor suffering tragic fans sadly still reverted to putting our heads in the sand self muttering 'nothing to see here'....