NRL 2023: First pictures of jailed ex-NRL stars Jarryd Hayne, Manase Fainu at Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Centre

See the first image of jailed former NRL players Jarryd Hayne and Manase Fainu together in their prison greens, as they adjust to life behind bars.

This is the first image of jailed former NRL superstars Jarryd Hayne and Manase Fainu together in their prison greens.

The one-time cellmates were joined by a group of fellow inmates as part of an Indigenous celebration. The pair – particularly Fainu – are looking fit as they adjust to life behind bars. Hayne and Fainu are in shorts with Hayne sporting a dark green T-shirt while Fainu in a lighter shade. The duo are pictured alongside six inmates.

It is understood Hayne and Fainu are no longer cellmates. However earlier this year they shared a cell at Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Centre — a minimum-security facility at Berkshire Park in Penrith.

Jarryd Hayne (third from right) and Manase Fainu (fourth from left) in jail together. Picture: Supplied.

Fainu had his hopes of appealing his eight year sentence quashed earlier this month. He is in jail after being found guilty of a stabbing outside a Mormon church dance in October 2019. He has a non-parole period of four years and three months.

Despite Fainu having next to no chance of ever playing in the NRL again it has not stopped his former Manly Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler from staying in contact with the 25-year-old.

Hasler, who will coach Gold Coast for the first time next season, has reached out to Fainu and it is understood he has told him to try and find a purpose in jail.

Manase Fainu’s hopes of appealing his eight year sentence were quashed earlier this month. Picture John Grainger

Hasler has encouraged Fainu to be in a position to tell his story to rising sport stars when he is released from jail. Fainu is considering becoming a missionary.

While Fainu lost his latest appeal, Hayne has yet to exhaust all avenues in a bid for his freedom.

Hayne is serving three years for the sexual assault of a woman on NRL grand final night in 2018. Last month his lawyer Margaret Cunneen SC said she was preparing a fresh appeal.

Jarryd Hayne is serving three years after being found guilty of the sexual assault of a woman in 2018, but his lawyers are preparing a fresh appeal. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“It is on the grounds of an unreasonable and unjustifiable verdict not supported by the evidence,” Cunneen told this masthead.

The NRL were waiting until Hayne exhausts all his appeal options before the likelihood of stripping him of his 2009 and 2014 Dally M Medals.

The convicted rapist has had an eventful time in prison. He found himself in the middle of a medical emergency during a jail touch footy match recently after one of his fellow prisoners suddenly collapsed.

Vision showed Hayne assisting the man and retrieving a towel to help shield the man from the sun while prison guards worked to revive him.