Jarryd Hayne idolises cricketing superstars

THE man idolised by a nation throughout his journey to the NFL has shown his normality in the most Australian way possible.

WHEN we look at Jarryd Hayne, we see a man that has conquered almost all there is to conquer in sport.

With a handful of Dally M medals, 12 caps for Australia, 20 for NSW and a reputation as potentially the greatest fullback ever to play NRL, the boy from Minto is often placed upon a pedestal as a football God among mere mortals.

And with his unbelievable success in a risky transition into the NFL, it is easy to forget that at the end of the day, Jarryd Hayne is just a regular Aussie bloke like the rest of us.

The 27-year-old did well to remind us all of his he’s just like us in an interview with cricket.com.au, as the 49ers rookie was presented a signed bat from the Australian Cricket team.

“This is unreal — I’ll be getting this framed,” he said.

Hayne was like a kid with a new toy when presented the signed bat from Cricket Australia.

In one of the more candid chats Hayne has had with the media since moving to the US, the Aussie recalled summer’s playing backyard cricket with mates, showing that even sporting superstars can enjoy a few beers and a knock around with the boys.

“Gee this takes me back to last summer, swinging a cricket bat. Me and my mates went mental with beach cricket. There was nothing better. When I was back home, it was probably one of the funniest summers I’ve had — beach cricket, a few cold beers and the boys.

“We had this really good game going where runs were dictated on metres — how far you hit the ball was how many runs you got.

“It was a great concept we came up with. It was pretty random — we started in the backyard then when it got hot we ventured down the beach.”

Hayne said similar contests were a regular occurrence during Origin camps, having played out numerous overs across his 20-game-long career for NSW.

“I remember Greg Bird went alright when we played on Origin game days,” he added.

“Some of those games we got a bit carried away — it was almost to the point where it was like, ‘Come on boys, we’ve got a game tonight — we can’t be going too silly on the cricket!’”

The former Parramatta Eels star admitted he had a soft spot for cricket growing up, and found himself star-struck when meeting one of Australia’s greats.

“I bought one of Adam Gilchrist’s cricket bats at an auction in 2008,” he said. “Definitely Gilchrist was a favourite of mine.

“Ricky Ponting was awesome. I got to meet him once and that was great, I was a bit shell-shocked to be honest. And I didn’t realise how short he is — I think all the best batters are so short.

“Matthew Hayden was another one I loved watching — he was just a big beast.”

The NRL convert has carried his love for cricket into his adult years, posting a picture to his Instagram account playing the game in Fiji in 2011.

Hayne is currently waiting to find out if he will receive the nod from San Francisco coach Jim Tomsula to confirm he will fill in for veteran running back Reggie Bush in the 49ers third season game against the Arizona Cardinals on Monday morning (6AM AEST).