Hayman's Taranaki deal still some way off

A deal to bring former All Blacks prop Carl Hayman to Taranaki is still "a long way off", according to Taranaki Rugby Football Union chairman Peter Crawford.

Crawford was reacting to newspaper reports at the weekend that Hayman, 30, was close to finalising a deal that would see him return from England to play for Taranaki in this year's Air New Zealand Cup.

Hayman's three-year contract with Newcastle, reportedly worth close to $1 million annually, ends in May, with the 45-test veteran reportedly keen to return to New Zealand as soon as possible to stake his claim for the All Blacks' end-of-year tour and ultimately the 2011 rugby World Cup squad.

The reported three-way deal between the TRFU, the Hurricanes and the New Zealand Rugby Union would include Taranaki helping to facilitate buying a dairy farm in the province.

"I can confirm that Carl's agent made contact with Taranaki some months ago and that Mark [TRFU chief executive Mark Robinson] has been working quietly behind the scenes trying to put something together," Crawford said yesterday.

"I can tell you that it [a deal] is a long way off and certainly nowhere near as close as it has been reported."

Crawford said the only way the deal would work was if the NZRU, the Hurricanes and Taranaki agreed on something that would suit all parties.

But he said there had been no formal discussions among the trio.

He said the talk of a farm in any deal had surprised him, given that there had been no discussions about it with Hayman's agent.

"If that does come up we will seriously look at it, but it hasn't been discussed.

"If we can get it to that stage we will be giving everything to get it done."

Hurricanes chief executive Greg Peters told Fairfax Media it was wrong for anyone to suggest that a farm would be given to Hayman as part of any deal.

"Taranaki is the province he would be contracted to and that's where the farm thing comes into it," he said.

"It is not a payment to Carl Hayman. It's Taranaki facilitating him getting into a farm. That means pointing him in the right direction and, potentially through other means, to help him on to a farm. It doesn't mean Taranaki's buying him a farm. It's part of the total package."

Peters said that Hayman would not be permitted to come home just for the World Cup and turn around and leave after the tournament ended.

"Most common deals are two years. If the deal gets to a situation where he agrees with it, as I understand it, he will come back and play NPC for Taranaki this year to press for selection for next year.

"It's a statement that he wants to be part of the New Zealand framework. He's not, as we understand it, going to just waltz back in for the Tri-Nations. He will play the NPC and then be available for the end-of-year tour."

Hayman, who was born in Opunake and went to New Plymouth Boys' High School for a year, still has family in Taranaki.

He returned to the province a year ago to marry former One News presenter Natalie Crook, who worked for radio in Taranaki earlier in her career.

- © Fairfax NZ News