Aussie's NRL star Jarryd Hayne: I used to be a hurdler!
‘The Golden Boy’ of Australian Rugby League Jarryd Hayne is set to illuminate the Gillette Four Nations tournament, which begins tonight. spikesmag.com catches up with the gifted full back and discovers he once had the potential to be an international hurdler…
Okay, it may be stretching it a little to call ‘having a similar backside to Usain Bolt’ a compliment.
Yet according to Hayden Knowles, the strength and conditioning coach of Rugby League’s most exciting talent Jarryd Hayne, the comparison should be taken with good grace.
This is because Knowles insists
having ‘a good rump’ provides an athlete with a Rolls Royce engine and Hayne, like Bolt, is developing as a pretty special talent in his chosen sport.
Aged just 21,
Hayne has already been described as a ‘once in a generation player.’ Adept in several positions,
his combination of pace, agility and power has lit up the NRL – the No.1 Rugby League competition in the world – and this year he helped inspire his team Parramatta Eels to the Grand Final of the competition.
Many may struggle to see a direct link between Hayne and athletics – and those who recall the British sprinter Dwain Chambers’ brief and unsuccessful stint playing Rugby League with Castleford Tigers last year will concur.
Yet there is far more than simply ‘the backside’ of Hayne, which binds him to athletics. This is because as a youngster the Sydneysider had serious aspirations to be an Olympic hurdler.
His mother, Jodie, was herself a promising junior hurdler and after taking up Little Athletics, Hayne also developed a natural flair for the event.
He ran a personal best of 13.10 for the 100m hurdles (yes, the 100m hurdles, not the 110m hurdles) and also recorded a slick 11.3 for the 100m at the age of ‘15 or 16.’ He was a serious athlete.
“I had aspirations to be an international hurdler, but I knew athletics is such a tough sport to make it in and you have to be so dedicated,” Hayne tells spikesmag.com.
“I came second in the All-Australian Championships when I was 15 or 16 but
I had to choose between League and athletics. I loved League too much. Obviously,
the Olympics is something everyone dreams of, so it was a pretty hard decision to make”, he adds.
Hayne looks back fondly on his days as a competing hurdler. He says he drew a lot of vital experience competing in athletics and travelling away from home for competitions.
He drew inspiration from others, too. He regularly attended the Telstra sponsored athletics meetings in his home city of Sydney and idolised Kyle Vander-Kuyp – for one simple reason.
“He was the best hurdler in Australia”, he says of the man who still holds the Australian 110m record today at 13.29. “I really liked watching him run.”
Hayne has no regrets about making the ‘tough decision’ to switch to Rugby League – and as a winner of the 2009 Dally M Player of the Year, the most prestigious prize in NRL, you can understand why. But
despite all his achievements as an explosive and skilful Rugby League player he still keeps a close eye on the global athletics scene.
“I still follow the sport today and I watch Usain Bolt run,” he adds. “I love watching Dayron Robles (the 110m hurdles) and Liu Xiang. I especially like watching Robles, he is so good to watch, so smooth – and I think I appreciate that because I’m from a hurdles background.
Naturally, running forms a key element in his Rugby League training. He regularly carries out 20-30m sprints at Parramatta and the speed work pays off as his blistering pace has already torn numerous defences to shreds this season.
Nonetheless, he delivers a surprising answer when asked if he is the quickest player at the club.
“I’m probably about the third quickest,” he says. “Eric Grothe, our winger, is probably the fastest. He’s definitely up there as one of the fastest I’ve seen in NRL.”
His athletics links do not end with hs pace.
In Knowles, he also shares the same strength and conditioning coach as world discus champion Dani Samuels, and Hayne is full of admiration for the Australian thrower.
“I went to school with Dani but I appreciate what a good athlete she is. In fact, she’s a freak,” he says.
A freak, of course, in the nicest sense. A freak, you could argue, just like Hayne.
***Catch Jarryd Hayne in action in the Gillette Four Nations tournament for Australia against New Zealand at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday 24 October***
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