Hayne walked away from around $9 million in contract earnings and  has set up base in Santa Clara, which is about an hour's drive from San Francisco.

It's not considered a flashy area  and he is sharing an apartment with another NFL hopeful. The place he is living in is about 30square metres – it has no kitchen and to say the house is basic is about right. Hayne has to eat out or eat at the 49ers facility. He is driving around in a low-level hire car and has only been into the city of San Francisco once.

"Jarryd doesn't need anything fancy in his life," his mum Jodie said. "That's not what he is about. He had to share a bed with me until he was nine – I slept closer to the door just in case anyone tried to break in. I used to nanny at places and Jarryd would have to come with me.

"He always had a footy or a bat and ball to play with and he always ate well, but he never had the luxuries. But it didn't bother him, he was happy just playing sport.

"If he is living a basic life over there, it wouldn't worry him for a minute. That's not what he values. Money isn't what drives him. He is over there because it's his dream and he is happy.

"The good thing for Jarryd is that he has some family support over there. The Fijian side of his family is over there and they are taking him to church on Saturday.  Jarryd is still keeping in touch with stuff back home.  He was straight on the phone when he heard about the storms to check on his mum."

Hayne is forming a good friendship with 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

They've had a couple of nights out but his social life has otherwise been very limited.

His days are the same – train, eat, study the play book and play on his Xbox. And he couldn't be happier.

The problem Hayne is facing is that as much as he wants to learn in practice he can't get the personal coaching that he needs. If he hires a specialist coach they then would get access to the plays the 49ers are using, and he is unable to go down that path.

Hayne is not having any issues with the physical aspect of the training. He knows the real issue is learning the game from scratch.

Those who have spent time with Hayne say they have never seen him more relaxed, focused or determined. He is engaging to be around and the time away from the NRL has given him a broader outlook on life.

DCE stays quiet

Daly Cherry-Evans' management think the world of their client. Not only do they think he can be "the next Matthew Johns"; they are also pushing for Cherry-Evans to have his own kids coaching academy – much like Michael Clarke and Tim Cahill.

It's a great idea – and like the "backflip" it's something that his agents were pursuing. Dare we say it, even DCE would have to admit he is about 25 Origins and 20 Tests short of being in the position to warrant that kind of thing. If Greg Inglis decided to start one up no one would question the legitimacy of it.

The sentiment is a good one. As we told you last week, the story about the DCE backflip emerged from a meeting at Fox Sports, which was attended by his management, Fox Sports big hitters and Manly boss Joe Kelly. There are some trying to say that Kelly was not in the room for the meeting – that is just baloney.

Why did he make the trip to Fox? To ask about the latest movie deal for his subscription? He was there as the prospect of Daly signing a new deal with Fox Sports was discussed – as was the importance to Fox that DCE stay in Sydney. The person Fox get value from in their ongoing deals  is Inglis because he is based in Sydney. The deals with Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston are productive, but they can't be in the studio to do their magazine shows.

That's where Fox want him and that point was made very clear. That being said, Daly will get a new deal with Fox – he is considered a talent with potential as his position in the game rises. The early tip was DCE to be a future Test captain – but it would be hard to bypass Inglis if he is still in league. It's also been suggested to this column that the message being conveyed to Fox at that meeting was that DCE had made an error in deciding to go to the Titans.

We were hoping that he  would deal with all those issues and more at  the Manly open media day. The requirement that day was that every Manly player had to attend and be available. Two players of note didn't front – Willie Mason and David Williams.

To his credit, DCE was there – but as the media session wore on it became increasingly clear that we were not going to get the opportunity to discuss his thoughts. The Eagles media man, Tim Ashworth, could sense a problem and in the end he had to talk DCE into giving a statement. Part of the issue in taking questions was that DCE had two reporters in the room that he would not talk to.

He was really feeling the pressure since the media blowtorch was applied and did well not to let his emotions run away with him. If he really wanted to kill off the story he could have talked to the media on Friday night after the game. He also knows how to use Instagram to make news – he did that when he wanted to take a swipe at "disloyal fans". The words that would have killed off the story straight away were: "I am a man of my word. I will be honouring my deal and I will be a Titan in 2016. End of story."

Social media abuse adds insult to Gallen injury

The seriousness of Paul Gallen's glute-hip injury is best explained by the inability of professionals to diagnose it.

"I've been to three specialists and they haven't got a clue what's wrong with it and how to fix it," Gallen said.

It doesn't take much to figure out he is facing a tough battle to be fit for the opening State of Origin clash on May 27.

Not that Gallen will concede defeat publicly.

"If you had asked me a day or two ago I would have told you my career was over, that's how concerned I was, but I'm settling down a bit now," he said.

"I've been doing everything I can to find out how to fix this thing, but I've had no luck so far.  It's so frustrating."

Gallen will continue to look for a solution right up until the time he is set a deadline by the Blues management.

What has really annoyed him is the perception he has put himself before the Sharks.

"I've been getting smashed by people on social media because they thought I'd pulled out of the Cronulla game this week so I could play in the Test," he said.

"What do they say now that I've had to pull out of the Test?  That's the absolute worst thing that anyone could say about me.

"I've always put this club above anything else and it's suchan insult for anyone to sayotherwise."

Also insulting is the length of time the Sharks have taken to lock their skipper down with a new contract.  It is anticipated that will happen, but Gallen deserves more than just a one-year deal.

Given the weight he has had to carry over the past two years with the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority inquiry, the club should be looking after him with a position post-football, perhaps even with an ambassadorial role.

Anything less than that would be an insult.

Tale of backflip 

James Tedesco is seen as the poster boy for the round-13 backflip, but the facts are that he was put in a situation where he had no choice but to accept a massive offer from the Raiders. The Tigers' offer was an insult and the feeling he got from management was that they didn't want him at the club. It was only when the club started to cop a panning for allowing him to leave that they made a serious offer. Senior players and coaching staff then began to work on him and that's when he finally felt wanted and financially satisfied.

Dank's offer

Stephen Dank is turning his focus to the NRL when it comes to his legal battles. He has made a private offer to the Sharks players to take their case up through his lawyers to prove that they did nothing wrong in the 2011 season. He is yet to hear if they want him to take up the cause. "I cannot believe that the Sharks players would be comfortable with the the tag 'drug cheats' beside their name when they did not cheat," he said. "I said all the way through this mess that I would be there for the players and my legal team have offered to take up their cause. They should not have to live with any kind of stain." Dank has a raft of legal suits in the works and is about to launch one of his smaller ones – against the Sea Eagles for wages they owe him. It is believed he is after $6000 for wages they didn't pay.

Clarke plays on

Michael Clarke wants to play on until the 2017-18 Ashes series – and we should be very grateful for that. "I don't see any reason why I could not be in the position to do that," he said. His captaincy is without peer and people forget that over a long period he has been our best batsman. But with succession planning all the rage there may be a push for him to follow Ricky Ponting into a batting-only role. "It's not something I have thought about," he said. "I am a pretty strong personality so it may be tough but it could be something I talk to Ricky about if that situation comes up."

Jealous Tigers

Tigers teammates are jealous of one of their fellow players who is sporting some of the trendiest sports apparel in town. The rising star is getting some serious fringe benefits from a growing off-field "friendship".