Jarryd Hayne’s code hop to Rugby Sevens was predicted a week ago

IT WENT under the radar, but Jarryd Hayne’s shock move to play Rugby Sevens for Fiji in the Rio Olympics was predicted a week ago.

The 49ers waved goodbye to Jarryd Hayne.

JARRYD Hayne’s decision to leave the San Francisco 49ers in a bid to become part of Fiji’s Rugby Sevens team for the upcoming Rio Olympics shocked everybody on Monday morning.

Well, almost everybody.

There was at least one man in rugby league circles who picked the story before it became common knowledge: Ryan Girdler.

The former Penrith and NSW centre had the hot tip a week ago that Hayne would forgo his NFL dream to chase a gold medal in Brazil. Speaking on Triple M radio on Sunday May 8, the 43-year-old let listeners in on a little secret.

“If he doesn’t make the (49ers’) roster, then he will turn out ... for Fiji in the Sevens in the Rio Olympics,” said Girdler.

“Apparently he wouldn’t mind a shot at the Olympics, and obviously the Fijians are very competitive, and with him you would think that they would certainly become a chance ... ”

So ridiculous did the former Kangaroo’s suggestion sound that his co-host, rugby league journalist Paul Kent, didn’t even let him finish his last sentence before rubbishing the claim.

“I think that’s complete crap,” said Kent.

Every detail of the Hayne Plane’s journey on the west coast of America has been followed with excruciating intensity by an Australian media hungry to know everything about his groundbreaking code hop.

Reporters galore have analysed his every move, and while interest at home drastically outweighed the attention placed on him by those in the US, the story of the kid from Minto still provided an intriguing storyline among the glutton of NFL news on offer.

Hayne represented Fiji in the 2008 rugby league World Cup

We won’t see this sight again.

So the fact Ryan Girdler — as opposed to a journalist or someone from the rugby league or Rugby Sevens world — predicted the news a week before Australia woke up to it means he’s either got some contacts in the know or is one hell of a fortune teller.

Gorden Tallis reminded everyone of Girdler’s announcement on Triple M Brisbane’s Marto & Ed Kavalee for Breakfast on Monday morning but, unsurprisingly, said nobody believed him at the time.

“We were all up him and told him that he was off his head, and then we hear this rumour that Jarryd Hayne has quit the NFL,” Tallis said.

“You can’t believe Girds ... he adds GST to everything.”

Not this time he didn’t, and he’s the one laughing loudest now.

There’s only been speculation so far as to Hayne’s motive for making the sudden switch, while everyone’s keen to know whether a return to the NRL is on the cards after the Games.

Speaking on Triple M’s The Grill Team, his Australian manager Wayne Beavis denied new coach Chip Kelly had told his star client his chances of making the final 53-man roster were slim, pouring cold water on suggestions he jumped before he was pushed.

Instead he said the move was a reaction to being offered such a rare opportunity, while an Olympic berth would be a “good thing to have on his CV when he looks back on it later in life”.

“He achieved everything he could at the 49ers,” Beavis said. “I think he could have gone for another couple of years. But he would have been in the grind there.

“They’d (Chip Kelly and Hayne) sat down and had a couple of chats and the new coach was very happy with him and happy with his progress.

“Jarryd was buoyed by it all ... everything was going swimmingly and then out of left field came the Rio opportunity.”

Only time will tell if he made the right move.

News.com.au contacted Girdler for comment.

Originally published as Jarryd Hayne’s code hop to Rugby Sevens was predicted a week ago