The house visit from Cleary that inspired Hynes’ Origin rise

A private house visit from Nathan Cleary, where the Panthers star spoke to Nicho Hynes about how he approached games and handles intense media pressure, has fuelled the Sharks halfback’s ascent to the NSW No.7 jersey.

On the eve of his first State of Origin run-on appearance, Hynes has revealed how he woke up just in time to watch Cleary’s 17-minute grand final masterclass last year – then invited the Penrith skipper to spend time at his home to discuss mastering their craft.

The meeting between the pair earlier this year shapes as a sliding door moment for Hynes, who will assume the pressure-packed halfback role for his state in the series opener against Queensland on Wednesday night.

With Cleary out of the entire series with a hamstring injury and Parramatta’s Mitchell Moses only just returning from a broken foot, Hynes will run onto Accor Stadium with Cleary’s words ringing in his ears for the biggest match of his career.

“I just picked his brain,” Hynes said. “He came over and we had a good yarn, and he spoke about how he dealt with things earlier in his career, especially with social media, and how he approached games and what meant more to him: statistics, winning games. He said, ‘Winning games is the best stat you can have’.

“Early in your career, you can get guilty of seeing stats and what they’re like. As you grow, you mature and understand it means nothing really. The only thing that matters is if you win the game of footy, regardless of how many things you have for your statistics.

Nicho Hynes trains on Monday.Credit: Getty

“There’s plenty of other things [we spoke about], but I don’t want to go into too much detail. He’s been a great sounding board for me. I’m not ashamed to ask someone like him questions and better myself. He’s an open book and we’ve built a pretty good relationship.”

The union between Cleary and Hynes is despite their clubs sharing an intense rivalry at NRL level, but also points to maturity from Hynes, almost 18 months Cleary’s senior.

Hynes has been one of the NRL’s outstanding players this season - despite a poor performance against a Cleary-less Panthers in the final match for Origin selection - and he’s battled a lingering calf issue to force his way into the NSW side.

Cleary spent time with Michael Maguire’s side in their Blue Mountains camp before game one despite his injury, which is expected to rule him out for up to 10 weeks.

Hynes almost missed Cleary’s grand final heroics – the Penrith captain dragged his team back from a 16-point deficit midway through the second half – after falling asleep at a friend’s house while helping with some coaching at the Koori Knockout.

“It was unbelievable,” Hynes said. “I woke up just as Ezra Mam scored his last try and thought, ‘What’s going on here?’ Then Nathan went bang, bang, bang and put a masterclass on.

“I admire what he does and how he’s been able to do that in his career. I class him as good friend and I would love to be able to work with him one day at this level in my career.

“I feel like I’ve been able to become a better player after having a small conversation with him.”

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