Jarryd Hayne and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Recruitment Process
The Hayne Plane is back and I’ve got some major issues with his return.
I don’t have a problem with the fact that he’s back, that’s great. I don’t even have a problem with him forgoing in his ‘lifetime deal’ with Parramatta and lining up for Gold Coast Titans. Parramatta are a wreck. I would steer clear of them too, and I have. The Eels boast a record number of members this season but I am not one of them.
Hayne is a mercenary. A gunslinger and a gun for hire.
Like the hero in a classic western, Hayne A.K.A. ‘The Minto Kid’ will go to a desperate town that needs his help who are prepared to pay the most once the poor townspeople have pooled what little money they have.
First he went to San Francisco, now minnows in NFL terms, and whilst the initial bounty wasn’t so high, the opportunity to make a name for himself by conquering such a wild frontier would earn a healthier pay off in the long term.
But the assignment proved much harder than expected and before anyone could accuse ‘The Minto Kid’ of not delivering on what he set out to do, he got the hell out of Dodge.
He then tried to join up with a gang that was renowned as one of the best around, but it was soon clear he wasn’t good enough to be part of Fiji’s ‘Magnificent Sevens’ and they told to him to hit the road.
‘The Minto Kid’ then tried his luck at Moore Park but the Waratahs weren’t interested which seemingly left him with only one option – the Last Chance Saloon – the place where every cowboy goes to get one last pay day, the Parramatta Eels.
But since Hayne had hightailed it out of there two years ago, Sheriff Brad Arthur was now relying on a new batch of men, including ex-outlaws, and he wasn’t prepared to lose them in order to pay Hayne’s asking price.
Then came word from up north. From a town more desperate than most. A town that had been let down by many a gunslinger in the past including ‘DeadEye’ DCE and the one they call ‘The King’. A town under siege by public apathy and a very powerful and well backed gang that call themselves the ‘Suns’.
Jarryd Hayne is not the bad guy.
He’s here to save the day and then ride off into the sunset. He has merely turned the tables on the clubs. However in this analogy, clubs are not poor townspeople being ransacked by marauding gangs. They’re powerful businesses that want the highest return for the lowest investment.
And Parramatta are one of the worst. Kieran Foran had his contract completely renegotiated before he even got there, Semi Radradra ran all the way back to Fiji because of payment issues and Will Hopoate has had to take the Eels to the Supreme Court to try and get what he was promised.
Over at the Wests Tigers they’ve have been trying to get Robbie Farah to walk away from a back ended deal for twelve months and Manly are now hoping for Brett Stewart to do the same.
My real problem with Hayne’s return is with what it means in fantasy terms and the clusterf*#k that was Thursday night. The return of Jarryd Hayne has highlighted one of the major flaws with NRLCEO – the Waiver Wire.
In theory it is a good idea. Avoid a select number of teams dominating recruitment by essentially having a mini draft every Tuesday evening giving everyone time to make a bid with the spoils going to the team that needs it the most.
Up until last season, a player would only be added after he was named on Tuesday. A player could play as a last minute call up but until he was named on Tuesday he wasn’t available.
But for some reason that was abandoned at the start of the year and now when a new player arrives he’s added whenever the powers that be get around to it. For the most part it’s of little consequence and most players added are fringe players who may get one game and aren’t seen again for the rest of the season.
Until you get to someone like Jarryd Hayne. I appreciate that Hayne is a unique case; it’s not every week that the player who was considered the best in the game the last time he played suddenly signs a contract and is set to play five days later.
The fact that it comes so close to the NRLCEO finals in a lot of leagues only adds to the problem. Then you have to consider keeper leagues.
NRLCEO had to think on the run and chose to add him and leave it up to individual leagues as to how he was acquired.
There’s no one answer for the Hayne case but why did NRLCEO move away from the the wait till Tuesday approach this season?
The other problem with the Waiver Wire is that once a player is dropped he is unavailable for 48 hours which actually means he’s unavailable until the following Tuesday due to the Waiver Wire lock out.
Now chances are that a player that gets dropped is dropped for a reason (i.e. he’s not playing this weekend) but there have been exceptions. Being able to pick up a nuffy just so you can have an active player in your team (especially during Origin) can be vital. Surely a 24 hour waiver period is long enough.
Geoff Adams
Latest posts by Geoff Adams (see all)
- 2018 Workhorse Watch Awards - September 3, 2018
- Workhorse Watch – Round 24 - August 29, 2018
- Workhorse Watch – Round 23 - August 22, 2018
Pingback:Workhorse Watch Rd 22