Fear of eels spurs Hayne - NRL Premiership - Fox Sports
The story sounds much funnier the first time Wes Naiqama tells it. About the day Parramatta fullback Jarryd Hayne was scared by, of all things, an eel.
It is October 2008 and Hayne is standing in waist-deep water on one of the islands of Fiji fishing with 15 of his teammates.
There are two women from the local village who are whacking the water with sticks to herd the fish into the nets that are being held by the players.
There's one slight problem. Hayne is spending more time on the back of some of his teammates than he is holding the nets. Naiqama explains why.
"We copped a few eels," the Fiji captain and Newcastle Knights outside back said before correcting himself.
"No, they weren't eels, they were sea snakes.
"We saw two of them and Jarryd was totally freaking out.
"The local boys thought it was funny and every time they got a chance they'd throw something on his back and he'd be jumping around s--tting himself.
"It was pretty funny and by the end you could tell he was getting angry, but the boys were lapping it up anyway."
That wasn't the end of the fishing experience. Naiqama knows Hayne is quick but even he was surprised by his speed when they spotted a stingray in the shallows.
"We were freaking out because of the Steve Irwin thing and we thought it was dangerous," Naiqama said.
"The local boys were actually trying to surround it and it's gone through one of their legs and shot in our direction and we all s--t ourselves.
"I've seen Jarryd run fast but that's probably the quickest I've ever seen him move."
These are the experiences Hayne credited for saving his career when he collected the Dally M Medal as the NRL's player of the year on Tuesday night.
Before his time with the Fiji World Cup squad, Hayne was just another rock'n'roll footballer whose talent was being frittered away with late nights and partying.
Need proof? Think back to March last year when he was the target of a drive-by shooting while out in the early hours of the morning at Kings Cross.
The incident pre-empted what was a tough year for Hayne that finished with him being overlooked for selection in Australia's 24-man World Cup squad.
What was the Kangaroos' loss soon became Fiji's gain. Hayne was recruited by the Bati and became a driving force in steering the minnows to an unlikely semi-final berth.
While Naiqama did not really know Hayne before he joined Fiji, he did notice a transformation come over the Eels superstar during his time in camp.
"That World Cup campaign had an effect on us somehow and it's just shown in his approach to football and the way he's living at the moment," Naiqama said.
"I didn't know Jarryd much before that. I got to know him during the World Cup but we all said during the camp how good it is and I could see it in his eyes.
"He couldn't stop saying, 'How good's this, this is just mad', just playing with the boys and that sort of stuff.
"He just oozed confidence from it and look how far he has come now."
He wasn't the only player to notice a change. Bulldogs centre Daryl Millard agreed it was hard for any of them not to be profoundly affected by the Fiji experience.
From when they spent time in the stinking heat sleeping under mosquito nets at an army barracks in Suva - where coach Joe Dakuitoga snored the house down - to their camp in two-star accommodation in Woy Woy on the NSW central coast.
There were prayers two times a day - one at 6am - and Millard said Pastor Tagi had the same impact on the team as a sports psychologist would have for an NRL club.
"They were great at bringing the team together to be, like, so united," Millard said.
"The boys already had a deep faith in God but he emphasised that we could do anything if we did it as a team and we believed that after a while.
"It just made all us boys in the NRL realise how lucky we are because all the boys that came over from Fiji came over with nothing.
"The daily allowance we were getting of $100 a day was more money than they'd earn ever in the past and they were saving all their money to send home.
"It became a humbling experience because we became such good friends with these guys from Fiji that had such a different life to us."
While Hayne has credited religion in helping him realise his potential, his manager Wayne Beavis thinks of it as something a little deeper than that.
It is something that has turned Hayne into a strike weapon for the Eels, the Dally M Medal winner and the best rugby league player on the planet.
"I don't think that the faith thing is really an issue," Beavis said.
"It's the belief in the serenity and the peace and the tranquility that brings to the mind that allows you to do the things you're doing.
"He did the normal kid things and got out and ripped and teared and then he had this settling experience in his life which I think has been terrific for him.
"He's certainly matured a hell of a lot, he's still maturing and his football has been explosive."
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