JARRYD Hayne has been labelled many things in his career. A good “murderer”, however, is a first.

Hayne helped Fiji to a stunning upset win over New Zealand in their Rugby League World Cup quarter-final on Saturday night, perhaps doing justice to a reputation built inside the Fijian camp by killing off the Kiwis’ hopes of winning the tournament.

Highly scrutinised and much maligned since returning to rugby league with the Gold Coast Titans last year following stints playing NFL and rugby sevens, Hayne’s Fiji captain Kevin Naiqama has opened up on the most divisive player in the game.

Naiqama says the Hayne he’s experienced in camp is a world away from the selfish outsider he’s sometimes portrayed as in the media.

“Jarryd cops a lot of flak in the media, but the Haynesy I’ve gotten to know is a real down-to-earth, good bloke,” Naiqama wrote in an article for Players Voice.

“I’ve been his roomie the last couple of weeks. He’s one of the senior players and he has helped everyone with their game, including me. He brings a lot of experience and he’s happy to share it.

“It’s hard when the media portrays you in a negative light, because you can’t control what they say, but I’ve seen who he really is and I reckon he gets hard done by with a lot of the stories.

“All he can control is what he does on the field. He’s doing a great job for us.

“Jarryd is a team player, unselfish, especially in the halves role he’s playing. He’s got a young halves partner in Henry Raiwaluihe and has really helped him step up his game.”

Naiqama said the team passes a lot of time playing cards, the most popular game among the players being Murder, which the Wests Tigers outside back says Hayne is a natural at.

“We play some poker, a bit of 13, and Murder. That’s a really good one, where you’ve got to try and convince everyone you haven’t drawn the ace and you’re the killer,” Naiqama writes.

“I’ll tell you what — there are some good liars in this team because they look you right in the eye and you can’t tell if they’re the murderer or not! It’s pretty funny.

“The murderers win all the time because you just can’t pick them. Haynesy is real good at it. He’s the exact same character whether he’s done it or not, so how would you know? Marcelo Montoya and Sitiveni Moceidreke are pretty good at it as well.”

For the moment the Hayne Plane is intent on piloting Fiji as deep into the World Cup as possible. It will certainly make for interesting viewing when he comes up against Australia in next week’s semi-final.

But it won’t be long before speculation turns back to Hayne’s future. Reports emerged earlier this month the 29-year-old was planning to quit the Titans and return to Sydney to be closer to his family.

The NSW Origin star denied those reports but it hasn’t quashed talk of a possible return to the Parramatta Eels.

Eels chief executive Bernie Gurr hasn’t ruled out Hayne coming back to the club. Gurr was given the opportunity to shut down speculation at a sponsorship announcement this week but said: “We don’t discuss our recruitment strategy publicly. This is not the forum today.”

The position represents a change of tack for Gurr.

In May, he spoke openly about the club’s desire to lure Titans hooker Nathan Peats back to the Eels, also revealing then there had been no approach from Hayne.

The Eels have been discouraged to recruit Hayne, with club great Peter Sterling urging them to instead retain their faith in fullback prospects Clint Gutherson and Bevan French.

Both players were reluctant to weigh into Hayne’s possible arrival given his contract with the Gold Coast, with Gutherson claiming to have not spoken to teammates about the possibility.

French said he did not believe Hayne was required for premiership success.

“Whether he comes or not, we’re pretty happy with what we’ve got here,” French told reporters.

“He’s got that X-factor about him and he’s a freakish player ... (but) if he doesn’t come, I don’t think we’ll be too disappointed.

“We’re pretty confident with what we have now.”

— with AAP