Archive for Rugby League Forums  |
| parragirl |
Hayne gives up rock star waysGlenn Jackson | March 8, 2008Parramatta centre Jarryd Hayne vowed last night to "pull my head in" - not to mention stay away from Kings Cross - in the wake of the ordeal which almost saw him shot on the nightclub strip last weekend. Conceding it would "take a long time for me to get over this", Hayne pledged to cut down on alcohol to rescue his reputation, and revealed he had considered not leaving his home during the week, with the gunman who fired at him still at large. "I've matured on the field so much," Hayne told the Herald. "Now it's time for me to mature off the field. I'm not a normal 20-year-old. I've realised that on the field. Now off the field, I know the things I do are in the public eye and there's very big consequences." Hayne would not comment on just how close he went to being struck by the bullet - which was fired from the back of a car about 4.20am on Monday while on Ward Avenue with Eels teammates Weller Hauraki and Junior Paulo - because it was still under police investigation. However he did say: "Mate, it's scary. But it's probably good that it just woke me up. I just realised that I've got to fix myself up. I've got start to act responsibly." Hayne also refused to comment on the incident which led to the shooting - a scuffle in McDonald's in which the Test and Origin star came to the aid of St George Illawarra captain Mark Gasnier - but he admitted he had to stop behaving "like a rock star". "I have been getting carried away with going out - like a rock star instead of a league star," he said. "I just want to say to the fans and the public out there, I'm still good, I'm still fit, and I'm still raring to go. This is a setback but hopefully I'll be stronger out of it. Now I know I've got to really pull my head in and focus on football. The boys around me realise that. Junior and Weller are in the same boat as me, really." Hayne, who will undertake trauma counselling, admitted he was reluctant to return to training after arguably the most shocking off-field incident in NRL history. "I was sort of waiting for 'Hages' [coach Michael Hagan] to say, 'Don't worry about training'," Hayne said. "But it probably got my mind off it all. I would have probably just been staring at the wall and not wanting to go out. I wanted to go and see the boys. As soon as I saw them I got a bit emotional. I love the game and I love the boys I play with, and I could have lost it all. I've learned to appreciate the things I have. I've just got to put it all behind me. What's happened has happened and I've just got to get on with my life." Hayne admitted he questioned the punishment handed out to him by his club - being stood down along with Paulo and Hauraki for the round-one clash with the Bulldogs and fined $2000. "But we just really can't put ourselves out there," he said. "The club's been through a lot. It's probably the last chance for all the boys, with 'Smithy' [halfback Tim Smith] going to rehab and all the other incidents. Everyone's taken a backward step. "It's going to be hard to see the boys out there. I've just got to get out there in round two and move on. The club's disciplined and that's the way they want to go about it. We have had chances and they've come down really hard. It's harsh, but we've all copped it on the chin. You have to. "I mean, it's hard. I've just turned 20 years old. What 20-year-old doesn't want to go out? But I remember a soccer player saying, 'If you want to be the best you've got to make sacrifices'. I've got to learn there are sacrifices. I can't go out, I can't drink hard. I can't put myself in the position that I did on the weekend." While Hayne said he would not place himself on an alcohol ban, he will cut down. Asked, however, if he would avoid Kings Cross, Hayne replied: "A hundred per cent. For a very, very long time." http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/n...ays/2008/03/08/1204780077711.html |
| parragirl |
Petrified Hayne speaks out
Reality check ... Jarryd Hayne at home this week. / The Sunday Telegraph By David Riccio | March 09, 2008 12:00am JARRYD Hayne remains traumatised by his dance with death, revealing he is haunted by fears of another attack following last weekend's nightclub shooting. Offering The Sunday Telegraph a first-hand account of last week's drama, the Kangaroos star told how he fled Sydney for three days in the wake of one of the darkest moments in rugby league history. "What if it happens next time and it does hit me? You don't get a second chance with bullets,'' Hayne said. "Even now, I'm at the point where I need to take a breath from it all ... I'm still on edge about the whole thing. "Even when I'm travelling by myself in the car, I just don't feel right. I'm still looking around and checking myself. It was a gun shot, you know? Hopefully what's done is done. I've got absolutely no revenge in me. "If they (the shooter) were looking to make a point, they've made it. I've learned a massive lesson.'' Contrary to more than 80 newspaper reports detailing the incident, Hayne wasn't a part of the group of players who attended the one-day final between India and Australia at the SCG on Sunday. "I didn't start drinking till 11pm on Sunday night at a mate's farewell,'' Hayne said. "Because I played (a trial against the Roosters) the day before, I was tired so I slept the next day. So all up I had been out for five hours, not some big bender like everyone thinks. "I got a call from a few of the boys and thought, why not, I've got Monday and Tuesday off training. I'm 20 years old, my body is in good enough condition to recover.'' The Sunday Telegraph has learned the shooting occurred around 4.20am on Monday after Hayne stepped in to defend drunken St George Illawarra skipper Mark Gasnier at a Kings Cross hotel. Several punches were thrown at Hayne and Gasnier. Hayne's team-mates, Junior Paulo and Weller Hauraki, also stood by their mate. "Sometimes you've got to walk away and take your losses rather than try and fix stuff,'' Hayne said. At the centre of a police investigation, Hayne said he was "restricted'' in his ability to answer some questions about the incident. "It was crazy. There was this loud bang and I freaked out,'' Hayne said. "All of us were stunned by the noise and then we realised, 'hang on a sec, that was a gun shot'. I realised then and there that we've all got to wake up to ourselves.'' Hayne woke at 9am ... to a nightmare. Summoned to Kings Cross Police Station for questioning, he was engulfed by a media circus. A stop at a nearby petrol station to purchase an $11 pair of sunglasses allowed him to hide from view. "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'.'' With both Monday and Tuesday off training, Hayne returned to his Parramatta apartment following several hours of police questioning to pack his bags and get away. "I got home and I tried to sleep but I couldn't,'' he said. "I said to my flatmate (Premier League player) Jimmy Grehan, 'listen, I've got to get out of here. I can't stay in Sydney. Let's go somewhere, I don't want to be around the boys, I don't want to be around nobody'. "So we went down the coast to Wollongong. We stayed two nights at Jimmy's parents' house. That was the best that I'd felt all week. I was still scared but his parents were awesome, they relieved so much pressure. "I don't know what would've happened had I stayed here (in Sydney). I know I wouldn't have slept.'' On Thursday, Hayne drove to the central Coast to spend the night at the home of Eels physical performance co-ordinator Hayden Knowles. Hayne's relationship with his mother, Jodie, is extremely close. She raised him on her own in a housing commission place at Minto, in Sydney's western suburbs. "It was hard when I went to see Mum (on Thursday),'' Hayne said. "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.'' http://www.news.com.au/dailyteleg.../0,26799,23342676-5012654,00.html |