New South Wales fullback Josh Dugan has “spoken with his manager about possibly making the transition” after his predecessor Jarryd Hayne was included on the San Francisco 49ers roster.
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The San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Tomsula has been secretive regarding where, or even if, Jarryd Hayne will play against the Minnesota Vikings at the SF 49ers’ home stadium in Santa Clara.
Tomsula perceives Hayne’s inclusion in the 53-man roster as a new chapter, tempering the hype and expectation around the talking point of the 49ers’ pre-season.
“I don’t want to take anything away from what the man has achieved but all he’s achieved was an opportunity to be in the locker room”, Tomsula told reporters on Thursday.
Hayne returned by far the most punts out of anyone potentially in the mix for Monday night.
It appears Hayne will be competing with veteran Reggie Bush for a position in those special team roles while is third choice behind Carlos Hyde and Bush in the running back slot.
But in an ominous sign for the former Eel and his army of supporters, Tomsula on Thursday said he’ll only pick Hayne if he believes can contribute in other areas of the game.
“You’re in game preparation now, so you’ve got that aspect of it”, he said.
“OK, you can catch a punt, but what else can you do on special teams”. Tomsula asked. Hayne’s entire American football career consists of just four exhibition games this summer.
“In that situation right there, for Jarryd in the preseason, that s something that we wanted to see, him to be able to field the ball naturally and kind of make that kind of play”, McGaughey said. This is real bullets flying.
With the game on the line, there remains a question mark over whether the 49ers have the confidence to throw their faith in an untrialled rookie.
Tomsula, meanwhile, wasn’t going to tip his hand on whether Hayne would serve as the return specialist, all while offering up reasonsHayne might sit. “But if you look at who led our team in punt returns in the preseason, it wasn’t Jarryd Hayne; it was DeAndrew White”. “But we ve also got to stay on the development side”.
“The first year we’ve got to stay on all the rookie players”.
“Obviously Jarryd has the body position, balance and leverage positions”.
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“Theguys up front and the vice outside, they ve done a great job of blocking and understanding the concepts of what we re trying to do executing the fundamentals of the techniques of the scheme”, McGaughey added. “When to use them”.
