Was Hayne right to quit the 49ers and chase Olympic Glory with the Fiji 7s?

Originally posted by Joecool:
Who's Jared Hayne?

This

I think future generations of sportsmen will be indebted to likes of Hayne, he is proving once again that it is possible to have a successful career in more than one sport something that virtually disappeared with the advent of professional sport.
Sure in Australia we regularly see players switch between rugby codes but as for switching between different sports, well we haven't seen in for decades.
The last one I can think of is Graeme Hughes who managed to play both RL & cricket, go back further and we had the likes of Dick Thornett who played not only RL & RU for Aus but also went to an Olympics as a water polo player.
Most gifted athletes are forced to choose one sport by the time they are in their early teens and locked into it for the rest of their lives, I think it is great that the likes of Hayne and to a lesser extent Falou, $BW etc are showing Aus kids that if you are good enough then it is not impossible to make a change.
I think the sports themselves have been aware of it for some time RL scouts have been looking for big fast players because they know they can bulk them up and teach them the skills but they cant make them taller or much faster. The AIS and Olympic sports have been fast tracking athletes that have shown they have the dedication to put in the work to make it to international competition but not quite the sports specific skill to be the very best into development squads of other sports.

We kept hearing it takes a life time to learn NFL well I think Hayne put that to bed. While it with out doubt takes longer to learn the intricacies of the game than Hayne has given but how many of those 20 years are spent just learning to be a profession athlete, getting comfortable with performing in front of a crowd, under pressure, proving you have the dedication and commitment to succeed the ability to play as part of a team.
Just about any successful sportsman has proven they have those attributes if they also have the physical attributes needed and some skill cross over then I cant see why they cant be fast tracked in much quicker time into another sport.

I read a post that mentioned a great quote from Bruce Lee.

"I would rather face an opponent that had practiced 10,000 different kicks than face one who had practiced one kick 10,000 times."

By no means did Hayne prove that he could make a difference in a short time to an NFL team.

Yes. He's a talented athlete who was curious about the NFL. He was always a longshot, and I think he could have made it as a role player if he committed himself 100%, but he has many interests and is trying to figure out what path is best for him. His 1 year in the NFL gave him more global notoriety, and now he's back in his comfort zone playing rugby. I think it worked out well for him, and for the 49ers it was worth bringing him in.

Originally posted by 220s:
I think future generations of sportsmen will be indebted to likes of Hayne, he is proving once again that it is possible to have a successful career in more than one sport something that virtually disappeared with the advent of professional sport.
Sure in Australia we regularly see players switch between rugby codes but as for switching between different sports, well we haven't seen in for decades.
The last one I can think of is Graeme Hughes who managed to play both RL & cricket, go back further and we had the likes of Dick Thornett who played not only RL & RU for Aus but also went to an Olympics as a water polo player.
Most gifted athletes are forced to choose one sport by the time they are in their early teens and locked into it for the rest of their lives, I think it is great that the likes of Hayne and to a lesser extent Falou, $BW etc are showing Aus kids that if you are good enough then it is not impossible to make a change.
I think the sports themselves have been aware of it for some time RL scouts have been looking for big fast players because they know they can bulk them up and teach them the skills but they cant make them taller or much faster. The AIS and Olympic sports have been fast tracking athletes that have shown they have the dedication to put in the work to make it to international competition but not quite the sports specific skill to be the very best into development squads of other sports.

We kept hearing it takes a life time to learn NFL well I think Hayne put that to bed. While it with out doubt takes longer to learn the intricacies of the game than Hayne has given but how many of those 20 years are spent just learning to be a profession athlete, getting comfortable with performing in front of a crowd, under pressure, proving you have the dedication and commitment to succeed the ability to play as part of a team.
Just about any successful sportsman has proven they have those attributes if they also have the physical attributes needed and some skill cross over then I cant see why they cant be fast tracked in much quicker time into another sport.

What's going on here. You don't actually believe that do you, 220?

There are plenty of examples of multi-sport athletes & surely Ebner is the most successful rugby code to AF crossover athlete.

I have no idea why you're dismissing athletes that crossover between league & union. The number of crossover attempts is higher so you are bound to get more success stories, but you can't deny there have been some average attempts & plenty of outright failures.

220 whether you like it or not Hayne is not a successful crossover/multi-sport/dual code athlete. He may have had the potential to be, but his resume is just not good enough (CV similar to the one Sam Burgess has after his rugby stint). Now if he excels at rugby union 7s or 15s (who knows what he'll do next?) then he can rightfully be classified as one.

Brad Thorn, Jason Robinson, SBW, Nate Ebner, Israel Folau, Jeff Wilson & Anthony Mundine etc, are all ahead of Hayne in the dual sport athlete rankings, some of them by a large margin. Hayne is currently on the same level as Sam Burgess. If Israel Folau hadn't found success playing RU after his average AFL stint, he'd be on this level too.

No doubt Jarryd was a better RL player then a number of the guys mentioned above, but he hasn't really done enough to claim dual sport credibility.

How exactly did Jarryd put that to bed? He is out of the league after one season having not achieved that much... His NFL career was more hype than substance.

He didn't even reach the NFLPA career average of 3.3 years.

Originally posted by SofaKing:
Yes. He's a talented athlete who was curious about the NFL. He was always a longshot, and I think he could have made it as a role player if he committed himself 100%, but he has many interests and is trying to figure out what path is best for him. His 1 year in the NFL gave him more global notoriety, and now he's back in his comfort zone playing rugby. I think it worked out well for him, and for the 49ers it was worth bringing him in.

This is true.

Most of the Aussie are disappointed with the way he ended it and his lack of commitment to follow it through to actually make it as a legit player.

Ultimately, it is up to Hayne to do what he wants to do and up to us to like it or not.

It gets up our noses that it seems he was not up front with us the fans who supported him. No fans, no money in the sport and he is the one who is a beneficiary of the loot generated by having fans.

Originally posted by SofaKing:
Yes. He's a talented athlete who was curious about the NFL. He was always a longshot, and I think he could have made it as a role player if he committed himself 100%, but he has many interests and is trying to figure out what path is best for him. His 1 year in the NFL gave him more global notoriety, and now he's back in his comfort zone playing rugby. I think it worked out well for him, and for the 49ers it was worth bringing him in.

I think your right to a degree but I think he showed enough that bringing in a talented athlete from another sport maybe shouldn't be considered as a long shot more like a low round draft pick.

Originally posted by 220s:

Originally posted by SofaKing:
Yes. He's a talented athlete who was curious about the NFL. He was always a longshot, and I think he could have made it as a role player if he committed himself 100%, but he has many interests and is trying to figure out what path is best for him. His 1 year in the NFL gave him more global notoriety, and now he's back in his comfort zone playing rugby. I think it worked out well for him, and for the 49ers it was worth bringing him in.

I think your right to a degree but I think he showed enough that bringing in a talented athlete from another sport maybe shouldn't be considered as a long shot more like a low round draft pick.

I really hope that Hayne's cross over does open the door for more Australian athletes to come into the NFL. If anything he did it was to show that it is possible.

Shame he didn't follow it through as that would really have thrown the doors open

I'm not dismissing the RL-RU conversion, it would be a massive challenge, probably as hard as Haynes RL-NFL or RL-AFL switch if you have never played the game but I think you will find just about all that have made the switch successfully have been fairly talented RU players as juniors and aren't learning the game from scratch.
I don't think the RU-RL is anywhere near as big a challenge when it come to learning the intricacies of the game, RL is really a simplified game of RU. Look at Radrahdra, from never having played a game of RL in his life to playing in the NRL in 8 games and the best in his position within a few years.
I would say Haynes success in the NFL has been on par with the success of the NRL-AFL converts. I think he could have produced more given time but really I think what he produced is on par with what you would expect from a low draft pick in their first year of NFL and that is what I meant by putting it to bed. If the NFL franchises start looking at RL/RU players like a low draft pick then what he achieved is massive.

I get what your saying about Wilson/Mundine and it is more like the NFL players that have combined successful NFL and MLB careers in that they have managed 2 sports they have played all their lives at a elite level. Very different to changing sports mid career to something you have no real background in.

I just found out about the story now. So what I want to know is if he knew he wasn't going to stay on Chip's team so they let him "retire" to save face or if this is really his dream? Is the olympics really that big of a deal in australia? Even in our big sports here in the US we don't really give a crap... the US basketball team sweeped the olympics last time and we didn't really give a crap.

Originally posted by Trillmendous:
I just found out about the story now. So what I want to know is if he knew he wasn't going to stay on Chip's team so they let him "retire" to save face or if this is really his dream? Is the olympics really that big of a deal in australia? Even in our big sports here in the US we don't really give a crap... the US basketball team sweeped the olympics last time and we didn't really give a crap.

Most of the Aussie fans are not too happy with what he did. A lot think he hasn't been honest about his reasons and that seems to upset most. A minority are happy for him. Most seem to think he quit with the job half done. It is a pity he didn't see it through

Rugby 7s in the Olympics is not big. There will be some passing interests but it is not like Rugby League, Australian Football Rules, Rugby Union and Cricket. It is a side show. Most of us are dumbfounded with this decision as he looks like a quitter and Australians pride themselves on seeing things through and being the underdog.

Meh. Not relevant enough to care about tbh. All it did was open a spot for someone who wants to play in the NFL. That being said, it's his life and he should do what he wants to do.

Originally posted by JustinMT:

Meh. Not relevant enough to care about tbh. All it did was open a spot for someone who wants to play in the NFL. That being said, it's his life and he should do what he wants to do.

That seems to be the general consensus in the US. Thus confirming that he really made very little positive contribution to the NFL. What started with so much promise has ended as a publicity stunt.

Originally posted by Goatie:
Most of the Aussie fans are not too happy with what he did. A lot think he hasn't been honest about his reasons and that seems to upset most. A minority are happy for him. Most seem to think he quit with the job half done. It is a pity he didn't see it through

Rugby 7s in the Olympics is not big. There will be some passing interests but it is not like Rugby League, Australian Football Rules, Rugby Union and Cricket. It is a side show. Most of us are dumbfounded with this decision as he looks like a quitter and Australians pride themselves on seeing things through and being the underdog.

Hey Goatie apart from some NFL fans and some journalists who were making a nice living writing nothing stories about Haynes NFL transition I think your well of the mark. I happen to sell newspapers for a living and with Hayne being front and back page news for the last week have had the conversation up to 50 times a day.
For the average person on the street even Haynes transition to the NFL was only a general interest story, his move to R7's is viewed the same. Most don't care if he walked away from the NFL before becoming a superstar, he played NFL so to them is a NFL player and the consensus seems to be it is his life, if he wants to chase Olympic glory good luck to him.
To tell the truth I don't think most even realised R7s was making its debut at Rio until they read of Haynes change of plans.

Australians love the Olympics, for the 2 weeks it is on it will push every other sport off the back page, most general news items off the front page and a fair percentage of every news broadcast will be dedicated to covering them.. The Olympics have made plenty of Aussie household names probably more than any of the football codes.

That may well be the conversation in the area where you work, I don't doubt your word.

Where I live and work most people in the conversation are not impressed and wont be supporting him any more.

I note his Fan Club on Facebook is even getting stuck into him and turned again him over this.

The poll results above are representative of the people I have been talking to.

In regard to the Olympics, yep it is a big deal for two weeks every 4 years then people think little of it. They think even less of 7s Rugby in the Olympics as most in Australia watch the Olympics for the more traditional Olympic Sports like track and swimming.