AUSTRALIAN rugby league isn’t having a great week.
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Just hours after floating the plan, the NRL has been forced to back down on plans – announced only hours earlier – to confiscate players’ mobile phones as the organisation’s integrity unit flounders to stumble on to the front foot in dealing with player scandals swirling around allegations of drug abuse, overuse of alcohol and incidents of violence.
For some enthusiasts, it may feel like it’s been too long since they received some really good news, but even a fan in the doldrums cannot ignore the achievements of Jarryd Hayne. The 27-year-old former Parramatta Eels player has announced this week he has won a contract with the San Francisco 49ers to try his hand at American NFL.
Hats off to Hayne for trying to live his dream.
It’s certainly not like the twice-winner of the Dally M Medal needed to do it.
He was recognised here in Australia for his talent and would have had the pay packet to match.
It would have been very, very easy for Hayne to simply do no more than train hard and enjoy the spoils of his success.
But he didn’t do that.
Hayne has instead elected to turn his back on what is likely to have continued to be a glorious and lucrative NRL career here in Australia to try his hand against thousands and thousands of talented young American footballers.
Why? Just because he’d always dreamed of playing in the NFL.
Hayne’s name was linked to several NFL teams, including Seattle Seahawks and Detroit Lions, but he reportedly has agreed to a futures contract for a guaranteed $100,000. Others did not issue the same financial guarantees.
The 27-year-old will join a 90-man practice squad before it is culled to a 53-man roster in August and leaves for his new home on the US west coast in a fortnight and will start training at the beginning of April.
Not everyone would have the ticker to put aside the accolades and financial benefits of a successful career to chase a dream, particularly a dream that is shared by thousands of other young men.
Here’s hoping that Hayne absolutely blitzes it in his new career and proving that those who dare do indeed win.