Jarryd Hayne won’t make a call on his future until the NRL off-season, with the Parramatta centre admitting he thrives on uncertainty.
Hayne said on Tuesday he’d told his manager not to approach him about next year yet, but hit back at “ignorant” suggestions that he’d lost his passion by revealing he played through a shoulder injury to represent Fiji on Saturday.
The powerful Eels back is off contract at the end of the season and could become a free agent in the NRL, and there have also been rumours the Dally M Medallist could attempt to play in next year’s Rugby World Cup for Fiji.
But the 30-year-old says he needs a rest before making any decision, opting to go into the summer with his future unknown in a similar fashion to the way he took up American Football without an NFL contract at the end of 2014.
“I’m going to have a break, a deep breath and then once my head is clear than I will think,” Hayne said.
“My philosophy in life has always been everything will look after itself and I won’t change that.
“Going in blind doors, I enjoy that, not knowing what’s going to happen. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again.
“Everyone is going ‘what are you doing?’ I don’t know.”
Hayne described 2018 as “an emotional rollercoaster”, after he requested a release from the Gold Coast last summer to return to the Eels.
Since then he has battled injuries for a team running last, and been forced to deal with an ongoing civil suit in the United States against him following an allegation of rape of which he has denied.
Hayne was also recently criticised by former NSW teammate Michael Ennis, who questioned his desire to play on following his performance in Fiji’s loss to PNG on Saturday night.
But Hayne refuted that, pointing out he played on through a left shoulder injury that will now require a needle before Thursday’s clash with St George Illawarra.
“You’re playing with a Fijian team that we’re lucky to get $600 for the week, tradies get more than us – if you don’t have passion for the jersey you’re not going to last,” Hayne said.
“It’s just ignorance more than anything, you’ve got to realise what we’ve done.
“And from the weekend’s perspective I jarred my AC joint, I could have easily come off and said enough’s enough.
“But I went into halftime and the boys were around and I said: ‘just strap it’.
“If it got hit again I could have been out for the season. I knew the risk I was taking but that’s called passion when you’re willing to go out there.”
