KEY POINTS:
Carl Hayman could be back playing rugby in New Zealand as early as next year's national championship - and back in the All Blacks as early as the next Northern Hemisphere tour.
Rated the world's premier tighthead prop when he quit New Zealand to take up a megabucks
contract with English club Newcastle Falcons following last year's World Cup, Hayman is unsettled in England and pondering a return home.
Hurricanes chief executive Greg Peters confirmed the franchise had held preliminary discussions with the 46-test All Black's agent, with a view to securing his services for the 2010 Super 14.
The deal would see Hayman quit his lucrative 30-month Newcastle contract 12 months early to sign with Taranaki and the NZRU, making him eligible for the Hurricanes.
"He is a world-class player, so we are definitely interested in him if he is keen on coming back to New Zealand," Peters said.
"We have had very initial talks with his agent and we understand from other sources that he is keen to come back."
Hayman's discontent at Newcastle apparently stems from the non-payment of the image-rights portion of his contract. Hayman's salary at Newcastle is believed to be 333,000 ($915,000) a year, but up to a third of that is likely to be image-rights payments from the club's major sponsor, troubled bank Northern Rock.
One of the first banks to hit the wall following the US sub-prime crisis, Northern Rock was nationalised by Britain's central bank in February.
Effectively now under Government administration, the bank has been criticised for its dealings with the Falcons, particularly the 15 million purchase of the club's Kingston Park ground just weeks before the bailout.
The club's owner, Dave Thompson, last month gave up on attempts to sell it after failing to find a buyer.
Newcastle have struggled on the field, winning just two of eight Guinness Premiership matches this season to languish second from bottom on the ladder. The club have also failed to make an impact in European competition, where it is struggling to get out of its group in the second-tier European Challenge Cup.
Hayman has missed their last five matches with a knee injury.
Taranaki chief executive Mark Robinson didn't return the Herald's calls yesterday but Peters confirmed the Opunake-born Hayman was considering a return to the province he left as a teenager.
"Obviously he has strong links with Taranaki and, from the Hurricanes' perspective, we'd be quite happy to facilitate that if that's how it works out."
Taranaki and the Hurricanes would likely pay Hayman the going rate for a senior All Black, but any move to bring the 29-year-old back to New Zealand would also require significant NZRU funding.
"It would obviously require a New Zealand rugby union contract to make the whole thing work," Peters said. "But we imagine they [the NZRU] would be fairly interested in attracting a player of his calibre back to New Zealand."
Recapturing Hayman would be a coup for the NZRU, which offered him a farm as part of a package to tempt him to stay in New Zealand following the 2007 World Cup.
Peters laughed but didn't deny it when asked if a farm would again be on the table.
"Knowing Zarg [Hayman] I would imagine that farming would have something to do with the equation."
Hayman racked up 81 Super rugby games for the Highlanders and made 68 appearances for Otago, but Otago chief executive Richard Reid said he hadn't spoken to him recently about a possible return.
"I saw him when he was back in June and had a beer with him and a chat about the future. [Since then] I haven't spoken to him but clearly if someone like Carl is thinking about coming back then we'd be interested."
Hayman is due to return to New Zealand next month to marry former TVNZ reporter and Fair Go presenter Natalie Crook.
