Jarryd Hayne: When fame and adulation goes horribly wrong

The descent of Jarryd Hayne will be viewed as the ultimate cautionary tale, a sporting freak who had it all but now faces jail time as a sex offender. We reveal the full Hayne story.

Jarryd Hayne owns a life based around big moments. On field, off it, in Kings Cross, everywhere. Here, truly, is a sportsman who was trending long before we really even knew what that even meant.

From the moment the enigmatic Parramatta Eels first launched the Hayne Plane, he has led a life lived in the headlines.

And this week he went from #Haynemania to staring down the prospect of jail time as a convicted sex offender.

On Monday, a jury of five women and seven men found him guilty of sexually assaulting a woman on NRL grand final night in September 2018.

It was the second jury to consider the case, the first unable to reach a decision.

Hayne, will be sentenced later, left court stony-faced, shell-shocked.

Truth be told, he probably wasn’t the only one surprised. Sex assault cases are incredibly difficult to get to court, let alone land a conviction. And when you have a defendant as famous as Hayne, the odds are stacked against the prosecution even more.

Hayne has indicated he intends to lodge an appeal against that conviction, meaning it’s not entirely over for the prosecution and the victim.

But in the meantime, this case will be examined as the ultimate cautionary tale of when the culture of fame and adulation goes horribly wrong.

It’s an extraordinarily high profile case which epitomises what can go wrong when hero worship goes unchecked. When the bad behaviour of a star who thinks the normal rules of human decency don’t apply to them.

We examine Hayne’s fall from grace — the schoolboy sporting hero who could have tackled any sport he wanted and excelled, who is now a convicted rapist.

We begin with the day he was discovered and signed as an NRL prodigy for just $1000, follow his career highlights, his ill-fated move to the US and his short-lived foray into rugby.

But we also look at his misdemeanours, his shady acquaintances, the accusations of sexual assault levelled against him in the United States and then, finally, his sex assault conviction.

READ THE FULL HAYNE STORY BELOW