Jarryd Hayne’s rugby league comeback has been dealt a fresh blow with the former NRL superstar withdrawing from the opening games of the Nines Premier League carnival on the Gold Coast with injury.
Despite being named as a starter for the United team on Saturday, Hayne didn’t take part in the warm-up and was later ruled out of the day’s action.
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The two-time Dally M Medal winner is currently nursing a hamstring injury and it is unclear if he will feature in the tournament at all.
It is a cruel blow to the 36-year-old who has been linked with an unlikely return to the NRL, potentially beginning with Eels feeder club the Wenty Magpies.
Jarryd Hayne won two Dally M awards in his NRL career. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Renee McKay)
Hayne was once the NRL’s top player, with his 2009 season largely regarded as one of the greatest individual years from a player in history.
At Parramatta, he won the Dally M Medal for the second time in 2014 before walking out of the game just weeks later to try to make it big in the NFL.
Hayne played eight games for the San Francisco 49ers in 2015 before returning to Australia and signing with the Gold Coast Titans late in the 2016 NRL season.
Jarryd Hayne at Nines Premier Rugby League event. Picture: Richard Walker
However, that stint was largely unsuccessful and he last took to the field in a competitive match in 2018 at the Gold Coast Nines tournament.
In the seven years since Hayne has faced three court cases and spent two years in prison.
In June last year, Hayne won an appeal against his conviction for sexual assault.