Stint with Wyong Roos changed Jackson Hastings as a footballer and a person
A GROUP of weary Central Coast tradesmen have changed new Sea Eagles recruit Jackson Hastings as a player and as a man.
A GROUP of weary Central Coast tradesmen — who worked full days in 40 degree heat before arriving to train and play footy — have changed the life of young Manly star Jackson Hastings.
Hastings has revealed how pre-season training with the Wyong Roos — when he was unwanted in the NRL — drastically altered his self-confessed questionable outlook and attitude towards rugby league.
His once perceived lack of respect has now been replaced with a new-found admiration for footy thanks to eight-week training stint with the Roos and their knockabout team before Christmas.
“I saw blokes who worked from six in the morning till three in the arvo, then came to do weights and then train,” Hastings said of his daily three-hour roundtrips from Sydney to Wyong.
“There were blokes turning up to training with blisters on their heads from working in the sun all day, covered in dirt. Blokes who hadn’t had a shower and who hadn’t even eaten — tradesmen.
“They were coming to training after 40-degree days and here I was complaining about an hour-and-a-half drive with air con.
“They were always happy and smiling. It changed my attitude from ‘how shit is this?’ to ‘I am lucky I don’t have to work during the day and I only have to train and play footy’.
“A lot of people talk about my attitude but Wyong really changed me as a person. It made me think about life as well, not just footy. You can’t take anything for granted. It was a massive lesson I learned.
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“It was a deadset eye-opener. I realised how lucky I was and I put all that Roosters stuff (he and the club split last year) behind me. It was nothing compared to what those poor blokes have to do everyday.
“I have nothing to complain about. I had a couple of hard months at the Roosters but it’s all been worth it in the end. I am really thankful I got to spend some time up there.”
Hastings has since signed with Manly and is poised to become an integral part of the Sea Eagles’ squad in 2017.
“I thought no-one wanted me, I reading stuff that no-one wanted me. I suppose I brought into the papers a bit too much,” Hastings said.
“I feel like a footy player again rather than being stuck in the gym and doing rehab. But I’ve got no grudge towards the Roosters — they made a decision that was best for their club.”
Back-rower Curtis Sironen is another Manly recruit who arrived at Brookvale ready to kickstart his career. Sironen and the Wests Tigers split last year despite many thinking he would, like his famous father Paul, be a one-club player.
Asked did he harbour any animosity towards Wests Tigers, Sironen said: “None at all, mate. I probably wasn’t doing myself any favours at the end there. Wasn’t training as hard as when I first got a crack. I got a bit comfortable I think. It happens but there isn’t any bad blood.
“I was disappointed how it all happened. That’s footy I guess but it was hard. A lot were my best mates growing up. Guys who I had been around for years but I have already settled in here at Manly.
“Already I feel like I had known some of my new teammates for years. Most footy clubs are the same. If you’re not a good person, you get weeded out pretty quickly. If you’re a good bloke, everyone gets along with you. This is my first time I have changed clubs.
“I didn’t know any different but this has refreshed me and I’ve had to try and prove myself again over the pre-season.”
Originally published as Stint with Wyong Roos changed Jackson Hastings as a footballer and a person