All aboard the Hayne train as Eels beat Cowboys | Thebigtip

Jarryd Hayne hat-trick inspires Eels - by Glenn Jackson from smh.com.au

YOU can blame Hayne for this one, too. Once again, it was mostly his doing. But this time the only concern will be whether the Eels will get too far ahead of themselves, as on last night's evidence, he - and they - may just be back.

OK, so no one expects them to repeat their efforts of 2009, and they were playing against the NRL's other big disappointment, North Queensland, but what Hayne showed last night, with three tries in a 36-24 victory, suggests they are not out of this competition just yet, even though there will be some jitters about the way the Cowboys made a game of it late. As they head into round 19 - the stage at which they began their remarkable run last season - the Eels are just two points out of the top eight, and their star is rising again.

Hayne was playing his first match since coach Daniel Anderson attempted to light a rocket under him by suggesting he was largely at fault for the round-16 loss to Brisbane. Since then, Hayne has been forced to reaffirm his commitment to the Eels while attempting to reignite the spark which was missing in his game. He partly did that in NSW's State of Origin defeat last Wednesday night and while he again started slowly last night by the time he made his mark there were bodies scattered everywhere (although some of them were the result of Cowboys forward Willie Mason, who was at his destructive best).

His first try came with the match still up for grabs. Five-eighth Jeff Robson had levelled the scores up but when Hayne blew the cobwebs off after 33 minutes with a 55-metre scorch to the line he had blown the game apart, and possibly blown the Eels' season wide open again.

The only concern was that hooker Matt Keating, who had fed Robson, who in turn had sent the ball to Hayne, was lying where the fullback began his run with pins and needles in his neck after being hit high - albeit while falling - by Leeson Ah Mau, who was placed on report.

His brother Kris, who replaced him, gave him a pat on the shoulder as he was stretchered off - with play held up for about five minutes - but it appeared that the older Keating was moving his arms and fingers.

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