WHEN Andrew Johns describes an individual as “the most complete player” he’s seen, it makes me sit up and take notice.
Especially when he isn’t talking about Wally Lewis, Mal Meninga, even modern greats Cam Smith or Greg Inglis.
In recent times, Joey has waxed lyrical about Parramatta fullback Hayne, whose game has reached a level this year where, mentally, he is now as good as he is physically.
And for a long time we’ve known what Jarryd was capable of physically. But what was missing in his game was the mental toughness and consistency to match what he could do with football in hand.
Under coach Brad Arthur, Hayne is a more focused and aware player. And like The Beatles, he is also getting more than a little help from his friends.
While the coach has refined Hayne’s game, he has also done the same for Chris Sandow, Corey Norman and Joseph Paulo.
I’ve spoken before about the stripping back of Sandow’s game so that he isn’t concerned with the organisation or structured play. Now, that’s being left to both Norman and Paulo, who have gone about the job in an unflappable fashion.
This, in turn, has taken pressure off their freakish fullback.
In recent years almost everything has been left to Hayne as he was the best runner, the best passer, even the best long kicker.
Now, however, he can pick and choose to a much greater degree while still maintaining his involvement.
There is no doubt Jarryd is a far better player than the one who reached such heights in 2009, although it may well be the case that if the Eels are to force their way into finals football, he will again be the man most responsible.
Three doubles in the past three weeks has moved him to the top of the NRL tryscorers list and set him on course to become the first Eel to score most tries in a season since Steve Ella in 1982.
Friday night is a further test for Parramatta and they would probably prefer to take on a Canterbury side not facing its fifth straight defeat.
But after sailing along so comfortably a month ago — and on the back of a highly impressive victory against Melbourne in the southern capital — the Dogs have gone from eyeing off a top four finish to hanging onto a finals berth.
Coach Des Hasler has lamented the lack of ball control from his team and that’s backed up by statistics — in their past four losses they have twice completed in the 60 per cent mark and the other two low 70s.
Each one of those has been substantially inferior to their rivals.
The loss of Josh Reynolds will again put the spotlight on Canterbury’s attacking game, which has struggled for points, against an Eels side that has scored more tries from inside its own half than any other NRL side.
Parramatta showed great conviction against Canberra last weekend and I have no doubt in previous seasons it would have been a game they lost.
So many missed opportunities gave an indication it might not have been their afternoon, but the Eels hung tough and showed real belief in their game. Finally, it was a lovely ball from David Gower to Hayne that broke the Raiders back.
The winner of Friday night’s game will again come down to a battle of belief between two wonderful arch enemies.
Replies
In before Phil says "Told you so" in relation to Seffa Paulo.
Please Super, Sefa is CRAP! 99% of fans on this site would offload Sefa in a hearbeat. The only person that I am aware of on this site that would keep Sefa, is Phil. Let's put it out there....WHO ELSE WOULD KEEP SEFA AT PARRA NEXT YEAR?
Good write up but in all seriousness If Hayne didn't play the last three weeks we probably lose all three games. David Gower's ball to Hayne was good but pretty basic, it was Hayne who put himself in that hole not the pass. I'm hoping with the better competition this week the whole team really puts in and don't wait for Goldenballs to do it all again.
When's Hoppa going to do something, feeling ripped off with this guy.
Agree, I feel like Hopoate and Tomkins started out in quite a similar fashion. Both looked as though they had silky hands, but not much else. Since then, Tomkins has turned it on and dominated, while Hopoate's still chugging along in 2nd gear.
As Hayne has said, his forward pack has to give him the opportunity to do what he does.
This was in response to yoshi's post.
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