Candidate to wear No. 1 in the Four Nations: Jarryd Hayne. Photo: Lisa Maree Wiliams
Wellington: Jarryd Hayne is resigned to Greg Inglis winning the battle of the NRL superstars and filling the vacant Kangaroos fullback spot in the Four Nations.
Injury to the incumbent Billy Slater leaves Hayne and Inglis as the obvious candidates to wear No.1 against New Zealand, England and Samoa.
Inglis is coming off a compelling play-off series for NRL champions South Sydney while Hayne shared the Dally M Medal with Johnathan Thurston following an electric season for Parramatta.
Chance to fill Kangaroos fullback spot: Greg Inglis.Photo: Mark Kolbe
Both were centres at last year's World Cup and Hayne fears his ability to adapt quickly to that role may count against a shift to the back.
He said the talent available to replace Inglis at left centre could provide the tipping point for Australia's selectors.
"Last year, playing right centre, I probably shot myself in the foot there," he said.
"There's no depth there on the right side.
"With Dylan Walker and Michael Jennings, they're all left-side centres. So if you use your commonsense, there's a bit of strength there."
Coach Tim Sheens would not commit to either player's role.
He said the make-up of the back line out wide would be approached as one big puzzle.
The absence of Slater, along with incumbent wingers Brett Morris and Darius Boyd and leading centre option Josh Morris, leaves him searching for talent.
Replies
Sorry Haynesy but Dylan Walker is a right centre, Kirisome Ava'ua plays on the left for the Rabbits.
Inglis was non-existent for the first 20 minutes in the Grand Final. His first touch was in the 23rd minute and was a kick-return. Not the sort of thing you want from a superstar fullback.
Jarryd.......you blinked
Clive, I have mentioned in the past that Inglis has very poor positional sense in defence. You have pointed out two glaring examples from the Grand Final. He rarely get to tackle a try scorer against his team (Souths) When he is in good defence position he is a very impressive defender. The number of media experts who say he is the best fullback in the world don`t know of his positional defence weakness. Billy Slater would never allow that 40/20 in a grand final. Inglis barely got out of a trot chasing the 40/20.The only coach I know who has cottoned on to the Inglis weakness is Craig Bellamy at Melbourne. They drive Inglis to one side of the field and bomb him on the other side of the field, Inglis gets nowhere that bomb. It appears that the ,now great coach--to some--Maguire--
does not recognise what is before his eyes week in week out. It seems that the Australian coach does not recognise it either. GI could be carrying an injury which makes the problem worse.
Shut up Haynesy you are the best number 1 available.
Guess he is nervy about getting the spot and thinking what will it be this time.
IMO Hayne is a better all round FB than GI. Both r gifted in attack but I really think Hayne has a better FB defensive game than GI. For mine, Hayne should be the Aus FB with GI in the centres.
Just another thought, with JT probably out Sheens may consider using Hayne as the no6.
imo Souffs should move Dylan Walker to fullback and then move Inglis back to centre. They'd be much better off.