By Dan Walsh
Nicho Hynes drove to Shark Park on Thursday morning as rain swept in off Woolooware Bay.
The Bureau of Meteorology expects the squalls to settle in for at least a week, or possibly relent some time in August. As far as Hynes is concerned though, life is nothing but sunshine and lollipops as an interview goes for 10 minutes until he has to field a question about State of Origin.
“I love it,” Cronulla’s million-dollar No.7 grins. “I knew I had media today and it’s just so good not to be spoken about being in [NSW] contention.
“And it’s a bittersweet pill because you want to be spoken about being in contention. But I think that’s been too much of a focus for me, over the last two years, wanting to be in that arena.
“You can forgive me for that because every player wants to be in the discussion about Origin. And I got to do it. But right now I just have so much focus on myself and rocking up to be a better player for the Sharks.
“I’m not worrying about external stuff, I’m not worrying about my [representative] goals, my goals will come if the team is performing and I’m playing good footy for the Sharks.
Out of the spotlight: Sharks star Nicho Hynes.Credit: NRL Imagery
“I couldn’t care less if I don’t go anywhere near Origin this year. All I want is for the Sharks to be in contention to win a premiership.
“Then the rest will come at a later date. I don’t want people to think that I’m shitting on not playing for NSW. I would love to, but right now I just don’t care.”
As long as Hynes wears the Sharks No.7 jersey and takes home an elite halfback’s pay packet, he will always be among the most scrutinised players in the game – for better or worse.
Coach Craig Fitzgibbon defends his halfback like he’s still playing in the back row alongside him, contending the 28-year-old is “criticised more than world leaders”.
Nicho Hynes is relishing not being a part of the Origin discussion.Credit: NRL Imagery
Origin, naturally, is where the glare is at its most intense. Both when Hynes made his Blues debut off the bench and had to defend out of position in Adelaide, and when he played halfback a year later when Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s send-off reduced NSW to 12 and they were duly thrashed.
So you can understand why Hynes is happy with his lot in life at the moment. He’s out of the Origin spotlight and finding form with the fifth-placed Sharks – leading the NRL for try assists (12) and line-break assists (15).
Questions around Hynes’s mettle on the biggest stage will always be asked until he truly answers them. Had his 50-metre field goal shot at Leichhardt Oval a few weeks ago sailed just an inch or two to the right, Hynes would have been the hero of the day.
Of course it didn’t, and Cronulla lost a golden-point cliffhanger. But the NRL’s most prominent voice on mental health is pragmatic when it’s suggested that in his case, the lines can often be blurred between headspace and handling hype and pressure.
“I think it’s two different things,” Hynes says ahead of Saturday’s mid-season acid test against Melbourne. “But I also feel that if you don’t have your mental space in a good capacity off the field, then you won’t be able to perform on the field.
“Game pressure and life pressure are completely different. I was in Bali riding a scooter home after getting dinner at midnight and there was a young kid who was asking us for money, she was about 10 years old. That’s real life pressure. They don’t even know when they’re going to eat next.
“So it’s completely different. They’re asking for money for us at midnight – they should be asleep, ready for school the next day.
“That’s real pressure. Game pressure and life pressure are so different. I’m not waiting to kick a field goal thinking about mental health.”
As an ambassador for not-for-profit Find Ya Feet, Hynes and Sharks teammate Ronaldo Mulitalo both spoke on Thursday of the blunt conversations the pair have had as teammates in the name of better understanding each other.
“He’s a better man than myself,” Mulitalo says. “I don’t know the pressure of everyone that goes around him in his life. You guys would see the external stuff. But internally, he comes in every day and busts his arse for us … the amount of care he’s put into himself [mentally] is exceptional.”
Hynes is well aware of the criticism that is never too far away. So too, the questions, even about Origin, eventually, that will always come. But he’s also aware of the platform he has as one of the NRL’s most recognisable stars.
“So if I can use my platform and my profile to drive and advocate for speaking about your struggles, then why not? I don’t think I’d be doing people justice if I didn’t,” he says.
“I’ll forever do it and I’ll forever be someone for people to talk to and lean on and be a sounding board for. That’s just who I am and that’s what I do.”
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