Jarryd Hayne’s attitude continues to cause concern on the Gold Coast

JARRYD Hayne’s teammates are reportedly annoyed at their superstar fullback for making their lives much more difficult.

Is Hayne getting on his teammates’ nerves?

CONCERNS over Jarryd Hayne’s willingness to buy into the culture at the Gold Coast Titans continue to arise.

After news broke earlier in the season the NRL superstar was fined for a poor attitude at training — a claim he strenuously denied — Hayne’s approach to the game has again been questioned.

There are reports the 29-year-old’s attitude hasn’t improved, and it’s upsetting his teammates according to News Corp rugby league journalist Paul Kent.

“Neil (Henry) likes to coach a certain way, and that is that every man is equal and if one guy doesn’t do his job then he’s let down the team so the team suffers,” Kent said on Triple M on the weekend.

“The players are the meat in the sandwich here because you’ve got Neil on one side and Jarryd Hayne, who’s a noted superstar, on the other.

“When Jarryd doesn’t quite do what he’s required to do at training, Neil says everyone is going to do extras at training and they’re all going to get punished for it.

“It’s starting to annoy the players because from their point of view, they see themselves doing extra work because Jarryd has caused it, and they’re tired of that happening, and they’re also tired of the fact that it’s not changing.

“Jarryd doesn’t care, so that’s the issue with the players as well.”

There’s been speculation over where Hayne will play in 2018 given he’s yet to activate an option in his contract to remain on the glitter strip. Henry said several days ago he expects the fullback to stay with the Titans, and Kent believes this could add to the existing tension in Queensland.

Hayne’s never had a reputation as the best trainer.

“This is where it’s going to become an issue and it’s going to have to be delicately managed now by Neil Henry and by the Titans because Jarryd won’t go anywhere else,” Kent said. “Jarryd’s got an option. He’s got until the end of the month to give the Titans a decision. The option is in his favour, so if he wants to stay at the Titans, he takes up the option.

“If he wants to go elsewhere, he can do that, but there’s been no interest from other clubs about getting Jarryd on the price tag he’s got.”

Hayne showed his class in the Titans’ 16-12 win over the Sharks on Saturday, his quality with ball in hand obvious for all to see. But former St George and NSW centre Mark Gasnier questioned his work without the Steeden.

“There were some glimpses of brilliance, without a doubt, but there were also some signs that hopefully will get better,” Gasnier told Fox Sports. “I thought he was quite lazy in certain aspects of the game, positionally he got caught out twice.

“You’ve got to remember this is me being harsh, this is me talking about Jarryd Hayne who was the cream of the crop with his performance in Origin in 2014.

“There are little aspects to his game I’d like to see better.”

Gasnier was also critical of Hayne’s temperament and worried his short fuse will have a negative influence on Gold Coast’s younger players.

“There were a couple of times too where we saw little blow-ups which if I’m Neil Henry, I don’t necessarily want that with young (halfback) Ash Taylor and the other guys where if (Hayne) doesn’t get the football he blows up,” Gasnier said.

“It’s hard to take when you’re trying to create a culture.”

What sort of influence will Hayne have on younger players like Ash Taylor?

Former Queensland representative Justin Hodges agreed with Gasnier, saying Hayne’s inexperienced teammates need to ensure they don’t pick up any bad habits from their high-profile teammate.

“Those guys — Ash Taylor, (Tyrone) Roberts — they can also learn bad habits from him,” Hodges said. “I saw a play there where he went down the short side, hit the winger (with a pass), he’s dropped it, (Hayne has) blown up and carried on about it.

“You can’t do that because those young guys will get scared of that and obviously fall away in games.

“He’s off the boil at the moment. You look at him during games and he’s got this blank look on his face.

“He’s not pushing up around the ruck where he normally does.”

Hayne returned on the weekend after a lengthy stint out with an ankle injury and is pushing his case to be included in the NSW side for Origin I.

He will be fighting it out with incumbent James Tedesco — and Matt Moylan, Tom Trbojevic and Jack Wighton — to wear the number one jersey. Or if Blues coach Laurie Daley sees fit, he may choose to slot Hayne in on the wing or in the centres.

The opening match of this year’s State of Origin series is at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on May 31.

Originally published as Jarryd Hayne’s attitude continues to cause concern on the Gold Coast