Sub-par or superstar: the Hayne conundrum

LET'S cut to the chase, because Origin II is only a few sleeps away and Parramatta's season is still slipping away.

LET'S cut to the chase, because Origin II is only a few sleeps away and Parramatta's season is still slipping away and the man himself isn't getting younger, even though he is only 24.

Given the blur that has been Jarryd Hayne's seven seasons of first-grade footy, it will all be over before we know it. We approached this interview with the NSW winger wanting to ask some specific questions

How can you go from barely engaged spectator in the first half of a match, and then dominate like you're the next Immortal in the second, like you did against the Sharks on Monday night?

How can you play for the Eels as you have for much of this season, and then play with such destructive force for NSW in game one?

Do you actually care about any of it? Are you interested? Something?

"I might show that," Hayne concedes, not angered by the strength of the questions. "I might show that I'm disinterested. But it doesn't mean I don't want to win. It's people's opinions. People are always going to have them when you play a sport like the one I do. You hear it. For my part, if I feel like I'm doing that (not looking interested), I need to fix it.

"If I think I need to address it, I will. If I don't, I won't."

It is reassuring to hear, not least if you're a frustrated Eels fan who is of the belief that Hayne has the destiny of his side solely in his hands - or those magical legs - but it depends on whether he could be bothered using them. Since he claimed the Dally M Medal as the best player in the game in 2009, Hayne's attitude and its inexorable link to his form has consumed hours of bar room discussion in the Parramatta area and beyond.

When NSW coach Ricky Stuart didn't pick Hayne for game one of last year's series, he was making a statement about the team he wanted.

He may have said publicly that he believed Hayne was better suited to five-eighth, but in truth it was a diplomatic way of telling him that his attitude stank.

For game one this year, Stuart stuck solid with Hayne and Penrith centre Michael Jennings, who had been equally down on form.

He was making a statement about what he thought of them.

"Jenko and I both knew through the whole week before game one that when someone has faith in you and believes in you, you're confidence will go up," Hayne says. "When they are saying to you, 'I know what you can do'. Stick really showed that, and it showed in our game. I always said that I need to repay him, and I feel confident that I did."

Those who can remember will tell you that Hayne's father, Manoa Thompson, was a player equally enigmatic as his son when playing in the centres for Souths. It is said Thompson could kick a ball further than any other footballer in the competition, but would lose interest before it came back to earth.

Hayne's gorgeous run of form in 2009 prompted comparisons to the influence Andrew Johns once had on a game.

Instead of developing into the pre-eminent player of his generation, Hayne has become a source of intrigue.

Was the only way down?

"I always knew that would happen," Hayne says. "I always knew it was going to come. I'm not naive to the fact that you get accolades that you don't deserve, and you get pumped up to places that you don't deserve to be.

"With the way the team was going, I knew I would always be the person everyone thought won them the game. I knew what it was. I knew that for all the stuff I was being paraded for there would be times when there would be the opposite effect. Which happened. And I knew it was going to happen. It was something I wasn't going to be surprised or shocked about.

"People from the outside look at that and think that it's always about me. But you need someone to catch a ball, you need someone to run the right line, you need someone to hold up the inside defence for me to do what I do. You need someone to be as smart as Burty to run an out-ball on a winger that's a bit tight. My main thing with the boys is, 'I can only play as well as you guys let me play'. I need to lift my game as well, knowing I can lift other people's game. We do it as a team. That's when I play at my best."

The inevitable loss of form is something that hasn't rested easily with Eels fans. But at least they aren't the coach, whose tenure seemingly rests with their $1 million fullback.

Just as some believe Daniel Anderson found it impossible to unlock the brilliance in Hayne, others think the same thing is happening for embattled coach Stephen Kearney.

Hayne dismisses a widely held theory he has an issue with the coach.

Is he sweet with him?

"Yeah," he says.

How would you describe your relationship with him?

"Yeah good," he insists again. "I remember something being written about me and Chrissy (Sandow). And me and Burty (Luke Burt). All these rumours that are circulating.

"Just because it's on Twitter, just because someone says it, it doesn't make it true.

"Some of the rumours you just want to unleash. You want to go crazy. But you can't do that, because more are going to come. You just have to let it be. Let people see what the real (sic) is. The more you be who you are, the more people who are going to see (that). It will go to show it's not true."

That is why it surprises when Hayne says Kearney has been a source of strength during the difficult times.

"You get to know who you are as a person," he offers. "The best example of that is 'Mooks. He's always calm and collected. That's not to say what's has been happening doesn't affect him. But the way he handles it really rubs off on the boys."

Hayne says the more football he plays, the more content he feels about the burden of expectation. He also knows how quickly his career is unfolding, right before his eyes.

"I know it doesn't last forever," he says. "These seven years have gone fast. The next seven will go quicker. I used to think this would last forever."

Follow @Telegraph_Sport on Twitter and like Telegraph Sport on Facebook