Jarryd Hayne’s night in Kings Cross that could have ended in tragedy

A night out in 2008 ended with a bullet whizzing past the head of Jarryd Hayne. More than a decade later fresh details can be revealed of a night that almost ended in tragedy.

The NRL has never experienced a night so perilously close to a tragedy before — or since.

Despite confronting case file after case file of atrocities over the past decade, the governing body has managed to avoid anything near the shocking morning news bulletin which led every TV and radio station in Sydney that bullets had whizzed past the head of one of its poster boys.

It’s a night that, even now, reads like a chaotic and frenzied scene taken straight out of a Los Angeles street gang biopic.

It included the ultimate cocktail for mayhem; fistfights, firearms, and a budding sports star running for his life.

And for the first time in 13 years, The Sunday Telegraph has uncovered a surprising new development from the night Jarryd Hayne was shot at in Kings Cross.

At around 4.20am on Monday morning, March 3, 2008, the then 20-year-old Hayne stepped in to defend St George Illawarra skipper Mark Gasnier, who had been punched at a Kings Cross hotel.

Jarryd Hayne the morning after the shooting in Kings Cross.

Drinking alongside Gasnier, were Hayne and his former Parramatta teammates Junior Paulo and Weller Hauraki.

After playing in a Saturday pre-season trial match for the Eels against the Sydney Roosters, Hayne slept for the majority of the Sunday before taking the first sip of a drink with the other Eels players around 11pm at a bar at the red light capital of Australia, Kings Cross.

They drank and shimmied past the dance floor without a care in the world.

Within a few hours, Hayne and his mates from the Golden West would be dancing with death at the Golden Mile.

Despite the wooziness of a few drinks, Gasnier was still wise enough to read the room and sense what would soon escalate after a man hurled a punch him at the bar.

The Dragons star fled to a taxi and Hayne quickly followed.

Jarryd Hayne after the shooting in Kings Cross.

The nightspot where Jarryd Hayne was caught in crossfire. Picture: NCA NewsWire

But just as the taxi was about to roll, the superstar Eel jumped back out of the cab — letting Gasnier to drive away into the night.

Reports at the time told how Hayne, Paulo and Hauraki then confronted a man outside McDonald’s on Darlinghurst Rd just before 4am.

“The Parra players went out for a feed at Maccas later on and recognised the same guy that had a go at Gaz (Gasnier),’’ a source said.

The man retreated when approached by the imposing trio of footballers, but soon returned with deadly force in mind.

As Hayne, Hauraki and Paulo were attempting to catch a cab on nearby Ward Ave, the man stepped from a car and fired a single shot in their direction.

“It was crazy,’’ Hayne told The Sunday Telegraph, in his only interview at the time.

“There was this loud bang and I freaked out. All of us were stunned by the noise and then we realised, ‘hang on a sec, that was a gunshot.”

The reaction of the trio wasn’t complicated — they ran — splitting up and sprinting in different directions.

For the first time since the incident, a source who was a close confidant to the trio, has explained the dramatic moment that led either a panicked and cornered Paulo or Hauraki — not the public — to phone an emergency triple-0 call to Police.

A night in Kings Cross could have turned deadly for Jarryd Hayne and his teammates. Picture by Damian Shaw

“I spoke to one of the boys and he said to me; ‘You know how the police found out?’,’’ the source said, adding that he had no idea who had made the call.

“He said, ‘We all ran and I didn‘t know where I was running. I ran up a street. One of the guys (with a gun) chasing me called out and said: ‘Mate, you’re in there, but we know it’s a dead-end, so we’re coming to get you’.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do so I called the police in a panic.

The source added: “They (footballers) weren’t looking for the cops to nab the other guys, but they just wanted to get out of that dead-end situation.

“They were frightened for their lives.”

At the time, there was an inference that the men firing a shot at the footballers were bikies.

However, this has never been confirmed by the footballers or police.

The source’s revelations in 2021 that the trio had no desire to prolong the drama by seeking justice is supported by the 2008 stance that Hayne, Paulo and Hauraki took when questioned by police the following day.

The young footy stars told police they didn’t want any charges laid or any justice sought against the group of men that had threatened the trio.

They just wanted the entire dramatic episode that had unfolded, to go away.

Hayne, Paulo and Hauraki had been summoned to Kings Cross police station for questioning the following morning.

PODCAST BONUS: THE RISE AND FALL OF JARRYD HAYNE

Hayne woke in his bed at 9am and on his way to meet police, he stopped at a nearby petrol station to purchase an $11 pair of sunglasses.

The cheap pair of shades allowed Hayne to hide his eyes from view of the media circus congregated at the Kings Cross police station.

“I thought it was a bad dream, waking up … it then turned to reality,’’ Hayne said.

“The whole day was something where you just want to fast-forward. You want to forget about it, want to move on, want to just play footy.

“I was absolutely rattled. I got some sunnies on the way and it was sort of like a mask. I was hiding under this mask as I was going through.

“I hadn’t seen Weller or Junior since we split, so when I got in there, I took my sunnies off and I saw Weller and I almost had tears coming out of my eyes.

“We didn’t know what to say to each other except something like, ‘this isn’t us’.’’

“If they (the shooter) were looking to make a point, they’ve made it. I’ve learned a massive lesson.

“It was hard when I went to see Mum (a few days later).

“She was pretty distressed, like any mum would be.

“But when I spoke to her, I made sure I was really calm and pretended like I wasn’t worried and I wasn’t scared, but really I was petrified.

“She didn’t have to tell me anything I don’t know. I know I have to pull my head in.’’