Nicho Hynes went from the glamour of profitable the Dally M Medal in his first Sharks season to being dropped from Origin after a debut he’d quite to overlook.
But now, after going through “adversity” all through his 2023 marketing campaign, one of many NRL’s good guys believes his “heartbreak” has him primed for a mammoth season.
Hynes debuted off the bench for NSW in Game I of final yr’s sequence, solely given a 12-minute stint that noticed him miss a vital deal with that led to a Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow strive.
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Sitting down with foxsports.com.au, an sincere and open Hynes defined the ache he felt after he was axed for Game II stayed with him for a very long time.
“It hurt a lot… him telling me I was in the team for the first Origin after the Knights game in Coffs Harbour, [it] went from the highest of highs to a week after being at the lowest of lows,” Hynes stated.
“I don’t blame Freddy for it, I blame myself for a lot of it. Could there have been a clearer plan? Could I have trained there more during the week? Yeah, probably.
“But I need to make sure I put ownership on it myself to go and be better there.
“Then a couple of weeks after Origin I probably went out and tried to prove everyone wrong and play on my own and not bring my team with me.
“I wasn’t playing my best footy… and I’m lucky it only took a couple of weeks to snap out of it. I started playing some good footy again but look, it was hard. I felt like I let my teammates down, I let my state down and myself and my family down.
“It’s the first time I’d felt like that in my footy career, and I took a while to forgive myself and I think when you get over things you need to forgive yourself first.
“I don’t think I did that and I held onto it for a long time and that’s why it snowballed a little bit. But in hindsight it’s probably the best thing that’s happened to me as a learning and a lesson.”
Hynes is not any stranger to adversity in his private life, having dealt together with his mom being out and in of jail and his dad and mom splitting when he was a toddler.
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But his NRL profession up till the 2023 season ran easily, breaking right into a red-hot Storm outfit earlier than making a massively profitable transfer to the Sharks in 2022.
The 27-year-old admitted final season’s marketing campaign was the primary time he felt underneath fireplace and the teachings he’s learnt have solely strengthened his resolve.
“Last year was the first time I’d faced adversity as a rugby league player,” he stated.
“As a human, I’ve faced a fair bit. But as a rugby league player it was probably the first challenging moments I’ve had in my NRL career.
“It can only set you up for success later on, and I feel like Nathan Cleary went through a bit in his early stages. Johnathan Thurston didn’t win a final for however many years.
“All the great players have all gone through stuff, Michael Jordan misses that many shots but he also sinks them. He didn’t win a comp every year, you don’t call his years a failure do you.
“So it’s all a learning, I’m forever evolving and learning to be a better player each year. I haven’t even played 100 games yet.
“I feel like everything that’s happened in my career thus far is definitely a learning and it’s not always going to be smooth sailing and I’m ready for whatever is going to come my way this year.
“But I feel like last year is only going to set me up for a much better season this year.”
Hynes’ 2023 marketing campaign ended on a optimistic notice, making his Kangaroos debut as a utility underneath head coach Mal Meninga throughout two Pacific Championships video games.
After being underdone going into Origin Game I, Hynes made certain he had all bases coated and ready for each place he may be thrust into forward of one other rep baptism of fireside.
“(It has improved me) massively, especially the senior players, like Cherry-Evans was awesome, I can’t thank him enough for what he did for me in that camp,” Hynes stated.
“Even the Prime Minister’s team, we started off having a yarn in PNG and then he just went above and beyond in Aussie camp.
“Going from Origin, that was a tough pill to swallow but I think it set me up and prepped me, because I was going there as a utility again. Not knowing if I was getting a game.
“But when Mal told me I was playing and coming off the bench it was very similar to my role for NSW, but in saying that I had a clearer role, there was a purpose to get me out there.
“We trained that from the start and I feel like I was prepared for it because I knew I couldn’t go out there and do what I did in Origin.
“I didn’t prep for right centre, but I went in (Kangaroos camp) and prepped for everything, I made sure I prepped for every position.
“I think it set me up for that camp and Mal’s relaxed nature is like me, I’m a relaxed, chilled person and the way he set his camp up it just suited me to a tee.”
The Sharks suffered a “heartbreaking” loss to the Roosters within the first week of finals, being dumped out of the premiership race by a Sam Walker area objective.
But Hynes’ Kangaroos debut allowed him to brush that defeat off shortly and concentrate on performing on the highest degree.
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“It was (heartbreaking), I was fortunate enough I got to go and play a bit of footy and finish the year on a high by playing for Australia,” Hynes stated.
“You have to move on pretty quickly for that so I haven’t held onto it as long and it helped me move on faster.
“But coming out of the Australian tour, it made me so much more confident, and I felt like a better player. It made me refocus and re-energised, knowing what I need to do to be at the top level.
“It was a blessing in disguise for me going into that Aussie tour, but also experiencing some hardships and some harsh defeats in getting dropped from Origin and that defeat.
“But I feel like I’m in a better spot this year than I ever have been.”
In phrases of objectives this season, Hynes is solely targeted on the Sharks and getting consequence for the Shire workforce’s devoted followers.
He believes if Cronulla are on the prime of the desk mixing it with the competitors’s heavyweight, consultant honours will come knocking.
“My goals I’m setting this year are more team focused, I felt like the first couple of years here I set a couple of individual goals which I knocked off,” Hynes stated.
“But I think if I’m playing well in this team, this team is winning games of football then I will be playing good footy and I’ll be knocking on the door of selection.
“I’m not going to put goals of all these rep footy teams because everyone wants to play them right, but I want to win a premiership, I want this team in the top four all year.
“I want to go on winning streaks, all these things team wise and if we are doing that then I am playing good footy and I don’t see why I can’t be in that arena.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
