NSW star Will Hopoate could fill the Parramatta No.1 jersey vacated by Jarryd Hayne next NRL season, with the Eels opting to replace the NFL-bound Dally M winner with a strike centre rather than luring another high-profile fullback.
Israel Folau, Brett Stewart and Kurtley Beale have all been linked to the Eels fullback role, less than 24 hours after Hayne’s shock announcement on Wednesday that he was leaving the NRL to continue his football career in America.
Eels officials say they will not rush into locking in a replacement for Hayne, and that they may have a ready-made replacement for the former Australian and NSW star in Hopoate, who joined the Eels last season after a two-year Mormon mission.
But Eels boss Scott Seward told the Big Sports Breakfast on Thursday the search for a top calibre player to take Hayne’s spot on Parramatta’s roster was well and truly underway.
“For us most importantly we are not going to try and replace Jarryd,” Seward said.
“You can’t, you don’t replace a Jarryd Hayne.
“It is important we don’t make any knee jerk reaction, we don’t go for quick fixes, we look at where we have holes in our team and our club.
“We obviously have a very big hole at No.1 right now but we might also have options within our squad.
“We have people like Will Hopoate who have played a lot of fullback.
“The right decision for us might be to move Will to that position and find a gun centre.”
The Eels improved significantly last season in Brad Arthur’s first year with the club, missing the finals on percentages after back-to-back wooden spoons.
However they were still heavily reliant upon Hayne, and their most forgettable performances, including a 48-0 thumping at the hands of the Warriors in Auckland in round 18, came without the 26-year-old.
The huge salary cap space opened up by the departure of Hayne, who was in the throes of thrashing out a new $1 million a year contract with the Eels, could allow Parramatta to better balance their side across the park.
If not next season, given the short time frame, but certainly ahead of the 2016 season with a number of stars off contract at the end of next year including Trent Hodkinson, Daly Cherry-Evans, Kieran Foran, Luke Keary, Adam Reynolds, Trent Merrin and Aidan Guerra.
Kirisome Auva’a, Gerard Beale, Konrad Hurrell, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Sione Mata’utia and Steve Matai are among the big name centres off contract at the end of next year.
Folau could of course also play as a three-quarter.
However Seward said the club hadn’t zeroed in on any names yet.
“We are not really looking at the exact personalities at the moment,” he said.
“Obviously Brett (Stewart) still has a contract with Manly next year, Kurtley is still under contract (but) obviously having some issues.
“We won’t limit our search, but we won’t also go for one or two at this stage.”
