Club legend Prince gives star new recruit thumbs up for halves

FORMER Titans captain Scott Prince has backed Jarryd Hayne to slot into the halves seamlessly if the superstar is used in place of injured fiveeighth Tyrone Roberts in his Gold Coast debut tomorrow.

Prince, a former Origin halfback, believes Hayne’s best position remains fullback but said there was no doubt the 28year-old could handle himself if brought into the halves in his Titans debut.

Cameron Cullen is slated to start in the No.6 in place of Roberts, who is likely to miss at least two games after sustaining a medium level tear of the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee in Monday’s match against the Sharks, with Hayne likely to come off the bench in his first NRL match in almost two years.

“I don’t think it’s an issue, he can handle it,’’ Prince said.

“He’s going to be rusty, he’s not going to set the world on fire and I don’t think it’s fair for everyone to expect that.

“He should just go in there, have a run, get whacked, just a little welcome back game.

“But he’s one of those players that if you give him half a chance and he’ll tear you apart whether it’s first game or 100 games back. He’s just that type of athlete.’’

Prince said with Ashley Taylor controlling the ruck, Hayne could come on and play a “sweeping’’ role in the halves, allowing him to pick his time to run against the Warriors.

“To throw him in the mix in the halves in his first game back could be a little bit risky but I think if you’ve got Ash (Taylor) working the ruck and controlling the play in terms of field position, you just play Jarryd Hayne as a bit of a fullback role anyway where he just sweeps at the back and pretty much picks his timing to run or does his thing with the football,’’ Prince said.

The foundation Titans captain though believes Hayne will be at his best for the Gold Coast at fullback.

“I think he could slip into the halves and do a job for you but Jarryd Hayne at his best – and you want him at his best – the fullback position is certainly his No. 1,’’ Prince said.

“But if you needed him to play halves he could certainly do that.’’

Prince expects the Warriors to run plenty of plays at Hayne to force him to make defensive decisions he hasn’t had to confront for almost two years.

But Prince does not expect Hayne’s fitness to be an issue.

“Off the back of a pretty torturous training camp with rugby sevens ( he will have gained condition), those guys are fit,’’ he said.

“If anyone’s going to test you with their footwork, it’s those Fijians.

“He could blow everyone’s mind and come out and kill it, that wouldn’t surprise me.’’

But Prince echoed Greg Bird’s belief that Hayne’s new teammates cannot expect him to do the heavy lifting straight away.

“You just want the Titans to keep playing the way they’ve been playing and he’s just an add-on,’’ Prince said.

“If he does something freakish, well that’s great, if not, they still have to do their job and not sit back and go, ‘righto boys, we’ve got the Hayne Plane, let’s jump on board’.

“He’s got a role to play in the team and I’m sure Neil (coach Neil Henry) would have explained that to the team.

“If we get an opportunity to put Jarryd in a position to do his stuff, well we’ll do that.’’