THE Hayne Train is running on steam. Steam from the ears.

On Friday night Jarryd Hayne again gave us one of sport's rarest commodities: an individual who can impose his will on a team sport so completely that it seems almost effortless, whimsical.

In the first 11 minutes of the round 20 opener against Canterbury, Hayne beat five defenders to score with his first touch, backed up to bag his second not long afterwards and they laid on Krisnan Inu's first touchdown with a sublime pass.

At his best, Jarryd Hayne is one of Australian sports most awe-inspiring sights. For the first half of this year, he wasn't at his best.

The reasons for the change, for the return to the world beating feats of 2009, have been canvassed already, just three wins into the Eels' streak.

"He came back from Origin more confident" is pretty much the main one. Jarryd himself has told radio and television interviewers after wins over North Queensland, Penrith and Canterbury that he is relaxed and isn't thinking about the Eels' amazing run last year.

But he hasn't told print reporters anything - because he's not talking to them.

And herein lays a story that will be bisected, dissected and vivisected if Parramatta's Fremantle Doctor-like late season squall blows it a yard further than last year's beaten grand final appearance.

On June 27, the day after Brisbane beat the Eels 10-6 at Parramatta Stadium, Sydney's Sunday Telegraph ran the following headline: Blame Hayne.

It was a reflection of comments from coach Daniel Anderson the previous night - that Hayne "wasn't good" in the Broncos game. How accurate a reflection it was is a contentious point but it rhymed and tabloids do that sort of thing.

The headline caused such alarm that Hayne and his manager, Wayne Beavis, called a meeting with Anderson and the Dally M medallist called a media conference to deny reports he was about to leave the club over it.

I wrote about the episode here.

The way Hayne and Anderson have handled the affair since is fascinating.

Hayne spoke to Triple M and Fox after the NQ game but no newspapers or agencies. After the Penrith game he was interviewed by the Sunday Footy Show but no-one else, as far as I have been able to gather.

And on Friday at Homebush he spoke to Channel Nine and the ABC but was otherwise only interviewed by Parramatta's media manager, Liz Anderson, who distributed the quotes to reporters.

Anderson, meanwhile, seems to have taken perverse pride in NOT blowing up as 15 other coaches probably would when a newspaper story causes a stink between him and his star player.

He has never discussed whether he did or didn't apologise to Hayne but Anderson has otherwise carried on as if the affair never happened - although sometimes I swear I can see himself repeating "be professional, be professional" through gritted teeth.

Anderson has reacted with admirable stoicism, making good on his comments when he returned from St Helens that coaching in Sydney was always going to bring hurdles and he was ready for them.

On Friday night, when a question started with a reference to "Blame Hayne", he snapped "next question" at a reporter - who was only intending to give him a chance to wrap Jarryd anyway.

My point is - a cheeky sub-editor may actually be able to take some credit if Parramatta scores one of modern rugby league's greatest premierships this year.

But during the lap of honour, will Daniel leap into Jarryd's camp or will Jarryd leap into Daniel's? That is, will the euphoria of the moment cause Hayne to forget his newsprint ban?

Or will Anderson hack and spit three months' worth of carefully stored vitriol all of us?