Branch was signed on to three NFL rosters in the mid-90s – the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos – and is familiar with the challenges Hayne – who stunned the NRL in October by rejecting the most lucrative contract offered  to a player to chase his dream and play American football – would face.

It is expected Hayne will be offered what's called a "reserve" or "futures" contract once he has sorted out the paperwork needed to get a visa to work in the US. While a futures deal doesn't guarantee a recipient a spot on an NFL team's roster, it allows them to attend off-season training camps where the coaching staff assess whether they are worthy of a berth on the 53-man roster.

Branch, who runs a coaching camp in Texas for the Arena Football League, was familiar with the grind the former Parramatta fullback was about to enter and described it as a highly competitive atmosphere where Hayne needed to appreciate perception was as crucial as performance.

"Your job at that point [as a player on a futures deal] is to do everything you can to prepare yourself to fight for one of those positions that are going to be available on the team," he said. "Jarryd will want to show he is committed to it. He'll want to attend every practice session during the off-season, do everything they ask him to do; he'll need to be the first one at training and when he's there remember it's not time to jump around and make friends – although, he needs to show he can be a team player.

"It will be his responsibility to take every opportunity to learn and to show he could contribute to the team as a player if he was given a chance.

"The moment can't be too big for him; he needs to adapt and show what he is – one of the best professional football players in the world. The coaching staff will want to see someone who can potentially make the adjustment, who can obviously be a star and someone who can be a much bigger story in Australia than the ones that have already been written about him."

Branch, who has worked with Australians, including former Indigenous NRL All Star Paterson to help prepare them for the Arena Football League – which is the NFL's answer to cricket's T20 and had expanded from the US to China – said there was good synergy between Hayne and the Lions.

"You're talking about the Detroit Lions; they just lost to the Dallas Cowboys in a play-off, and they're a good team, a solid team and teams that are pretty decent usually try to hold on to a lot of players," Branch said.

"At the same time, they lose a lot of players because they're a good team ... free agents who are available become attractive to rival teams wanting to strengthen positions or, for the lack of a better word, you could say they 'steal' players. They want players from good teams who know how to win. For a young man like Jarryd Hayne I think the fact he is a professional athlete, the fact he has proved he is one of the best in rugby [league], I think Detroit will be very excited about having an athlete like him provided he shows he's learning the game.

"He's trying at the right time. I mean, 26 is a good age to make the switch – he'll know his body, he knows what it takes to be a professional athlete, he's mature ... it's a great opportunity.

"Personally, I think he'll be in a great position and they'll say, 'OK, let's give him time to develop' and make him a practice roster player and that would allow for him to practise with the team, understand the game better and give him a great chance to make it."