Hastings: "It wasn't me saying I'm leaving Wigan right now and going home, that wasn't the answer I'm trying to portray"
Monday 30 March 2020 15:17, UK
Jackson Hastings has moved to clarify his comments about his ambitions of one day returning to play in the NRL.
The half-back, who played for Sydney Roosters and Manly Sea Eagles from 2014 to 2018, spoke in an interview last week how he still holds out hope of earning another shot in Australia's premier domestic competition.
The comments led to Wigan Warriors player Hastings facing a social media backlash from some fans, but the reigning Super League Man of Steel told the Golden Point daily podcast his response to the question about a possible NRL return was misunderstood.
"I probably didn't answer the question the way I really would have liked to," Hastings told Sky Sports. "To be honest, I was a bit nervous.
"I don't really get nervous doing stuff like that, but I was. The way I'd liked to have answered it would have been if the opportunity came up and I was at the stage where I'd honoured my contract.
"I wasn't talking about next year, the year after or the year after that, it could be at any point in my life. I've always said I want to go back, give it another go and do things differently.
"But in saying that, if I have to play the rest of my career in Super League then so be it. It wasn't me saying I'm leaving Wigan right now and going home, that wasn't the answer I'm trying to portray."
Hastings has been keeping busy by setting his social media followers several rugby-related challenges while the Super League season is suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Him and his housemate, Salford Red Devils hooker Joey Lussick, have been training hard at home too as they bid to keep fit for when the 2020 campaign eventually resumes.
"We've been training probably harder than we would at actual club training," Hastings said. "We went pretty flat out with it all and at the start we didn't know when we'd be going back.
"At the moment, we haven't been given too much information on when we're going to go back and it's all up in the air at the minute.
"I think they'll tell us know when the government lets us know we're allowed to play again. We're not going to be able to go straight back into it, we're going to have to be able to train and get the plays back together and continuity.
"I don't know how it's going to work. I'm not too sure at the moment and it's all up in the air."
