The Parramatta Eels celebrated its 75th anniversary with a luncheon on Thursday but one of the club’s greatest ever players Jarryd Hayne was nowhere to be seen.
The 34-year-old is a two-time Dally M Medallist, Australian and Fiji rugby league international, NSW State of Origin representative and NFL player but is facing a third sexual assault trial set for March next year.
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While there were no surprises that Hayne was not invited to the event, the club made the decision not to use any footage of the former star as part of its video presentations on stage.
Hayne nearly carried the Eels from eighth to a premiership in 2009 and picked up a Dally M for his brilliant run of form.
The Eels lost the match to the Storm, but the premiership was stripped from the club when Melbourne’s salary cap scandal was uncovered in 2010.
In February, Hayne walked free from prison on bail after nine months behind bars.
The Court of Appeal quashed his conviction and ordered he face a retrial over allegations he sexually assaulted a woman at her Newcastle home on NRL grand final night in 2018.
Mr Hayne has persistently maintained his innocence.
“I‘d rather go to jail knowing I spoke the truth than be a free man living a lie,” Hayne said after his second trial in March 2021.
During a sentence hearing in May he again reiterated his innocence, saying: “I didn’t do it.”
The NRL has said it will make a decision on whether to take back Hayne’s Dally M medals after the outcome of his court proceedings.
Hayne is one of three Eels to claim the rugby league’s top honour after Ray Price (1982) and Peter Sterling (1986 and 1987).
The Eels 75th anniversary had about 400 people in attendance, including club legends such as Peter Sterling, Mick Cronin, Nathan Hindmarsh, Nathan Cayless and Ray Price, joined current Eels Clint Gutherson, Junior Paulo and Mitchell Moses.
“These are important milestones for the club,” Eels boss Jim Sarantinos said. “It’s important that we celebrate them and acknowledge those that have come before us.
“It’s great that we were able to bring together so many people who have shaped the history of this club and provided some of its most memorable moments over the last 75 years.”
It comes before the annual Easter Monday clash against the Tigers where 12 Eels Hall of Fame members will form an honour guard as the players run onto the field.
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