News brought Hayne up short

JARRYD Hayne was a lot easier to match strides with yesterday - especially as he was standing still.

One of the competition's faster wingers, Hayne had been brought to a momentary standstill by his inclusion in the NSW Origin team.

He was of course understandably "thrilled" and "pleased" to be in the side for the first time.

His dad, former Souths star Manoa Thompson, was equally delighted. He was the first one to tell his son the news after hearing it in the media.

"The old man was stoked. He's really over the moon," Hayne said at a quickly-convened media conference at Parramatta Stadium as NSW rugby league coped with the news of five new faces in a 17-man squad.

One of those new faces, halfback Jarrod Mullen, probably spoke for all of them when he said:
"It's a dream come true.

"It's the reason young blokes play football."

And it is.

Mullen, Hayne and the other three – Brett White, Anthony Tupou and Kurt Gidley – have a gilt-edged invitation to be part of an exciting NSW future.

Mullen and Hayne have more in common than just parallel thoughts on football.

They were stars in NSW schoolboys teams, and have at least an inkling of what is coming their way in Origin One at Suncorp Stadium.

They were there together in 2004 in the NSW under-17 team.

Hayne remembers it well. He should. He scored four tries.

Even now, three years later, he can still hear the cacophony of boisterous sounds rising from the throats of the dominant Queensland crowd.

"After our match we stayed on and watched the Origin game," he said. "It was tremendous. The crowd was so loud. There were around 30,000 people there just for our game."

Hayne (19 and 97 days) is the fourth-youngest Origin player. But youth is no cushion against the vagaries of rugby league.

Last year a finely tuned Hayne scored 17 tries in his last 16 games for the Eels.

He was named in the Tri-Nations squad but did not get a run. This year he has scored two tries in nine games and is in the Origin starting line-up.

"Last year I scored lots of tries. I was skinny and fast," he said.

"This year I'm stronger . . . I've bulked up," he adds, as if to say "you work it out".