Jarryd Hayne slams 'pathetic' fan's joke over Slater saga
Jarryd Hayne has shut down an NRL fan who tweeted the latest version of a long-running joke among rugby league fans.
Hayne joined thousands of punters on Twitter in sharing his view of the judiciary’s Billy Slater verdict late on Tuesday night:
Good to see @billyslater will play. At the end of the day it’s a Grand Final.
— jarryd hayne (@JarrydHayne) September 25, 2018
While many followers attempted to debate the Slater incident with Hayne, one fan went the funnyman route with an attempted joke:
It’s always been a dream of mine to be on the judiciary panel
— Paul Horsfall (@Spugmundo) September 25, 2018
Hayne’s shock decision to leave the NRL for a shot at the NFL in 2014 has been mocked in similar ways ever since he left the San Francisco 49ers.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to play in the NFL, and at my age, this is my one and only chance at having a crack at playing there,” he said at the time.
Hayne’s angry response to the fan’s judiciary tweet said more than
My next dream would be for wankers like you to grow tf up. And to think you got 3kids that one day will dare to dream makes your tweet even more pathetic. https://t.co/mwQ8AP1bXx
— jarryd hayne (@JarrydHayne) September 25, 2018
By any measure Hayne’s gamble was a success.
In his prime as a 26-year-old rugby league player, he had never played American football yet earned his way on to the 49ers squad for a handful of appearances in the 2015 season.
Hayne left the NFL in a bid to make Fiji’s Olympic rugby sevens team, before he returned to the NRL for a controversial stint with the Gold Coast Titans.
Slater set for grand final farewell
Melbourne champion Billy Slater’s dream of bowing out with a premiership is alive after overturning a shoulder charge citing in a mammoth three-hour judiciary hearing on Tuesday.
In arguably the biggest judiciary case of the NRL era, an anxious Slater took centre stage as he pleaded his case on why his career shouldn’t end with a shoulder charge ban.
Both sides argued for two hours before Slater was made to sweat another 54 minutes before the three-person panel of Mal Cochrane, Bob Lindner and Sean Garlick found Slater not guilty.
The retiring fullback breathed a huge sigh of relief before being embraced by coach Craig Bellamy, chief executive Dave Donaghy, and football manager Frank Ponissi.
The Storm troupe then returned home to Melbourne on a private jet late on Tuesday night ahead of the team’s flight back up to Sydney on Wednesday.
“I’d like to thank the judiciary members for a fair hearing. It was important for me tonight to get my point across and what my intentions were in this incident,” Slater said afterwards.
“Now it’s important for me to focus on the game. I haven’t started my preparations for the game yet. That starts as of now.”
with AAP