Jarryd Hayne's stunning NFL pre-season exploits have provided Ryan Hoffman with some respite from the Warriors' grim late-season predicament.
Fronting media midweek, the back-rower eagerly asked what topics reporters wanted to discuss, suggesting his friend and former New South Wales State of Origin teammate's phenomenal rise through the ranks of
the San Francisco 49ers was a good place to start.
The pair were joint winners of the Brad Fittler Medal last year, the award for the best NSW player during the Origin series, and Hoffman could not hide his excitement at what the former Parramatta Eels fullback has been able to achieve since quitting the NRL in mid-October last year.
"I've been watching everything he does, to be quite honest. I was fortunate enough to have a chat to him at the third Origin and I could see there and then that he was quite confident in his ability and quite confident that he had what it takes to mix it with the NFL guys."
Hoffman never doubted Hayne's physical ability to handle the transition into a new sport, but had reservations about how he would fare against almost life-long professionals born and raised on American football.
