“It’s my house.” With those three words Jarryd Hayne celebrated shattering the hearts of his hometown after kicking a match-winning field goal against Wests Tigers on the stroke of full-time.
Growing up in Minto, just a few kilometres away from Campbelltown Stadium, Hayne celebrated the match-winner by revelling in his homecoming game despite landing a major blow to Wests’ chances of reaching the top eight. With that, he turned around towards his opponents and let fly with one final taunt.
“As soon as I kicked it, I looked at them and said, ‘I know you boys are the Tigers, it’s your home ground but this is my house,’ ” Hayne said. “You couldn’t have written the script any better and I’m just blessed to kick the field goal at the ground I grew up in.”
It was the former NFL player’s first senior rugby league game at Campbelltown Stadium, having never played there when contracted with Parramatta Eels.
Gold Coast Titans hooker Nathan Friend revealed the code-hopping star called for the final field-goal attempt before the game was due to go into golden point, suggesting he was confident of nailing the kick in his own backyard.
“I was going to throw it to him on the second but he said to give it to Ash to have another go. But, on the third, he took it and I think his words were ‘It’s my house’… Well, he’s from here,” Friend said.
Hayne’s match-winner put Gold Coast into the top eight where he believes the Titans can finish the season if their attack can match their impressive defence.
