Why Nicho Hynes is a ready-made poster boy for the NRL

WARNING: This is one of those feel-good stories.

Remember, the ones that used to dominate rugby league news articles back in the days before mobile phones, CCTV security footage, and the intense scrutiny today’s players face?

This is a story about one young man’s struggle through a difficult childhood and the heartbreak of having his dreams shattered when he was on the verge of the career he’d dreamt of since wearing his Umina Bunnies football gear to bed as a five-year-old.

This is a story about a confused kid who embraced his Aboriginal heritage and culture with immense pride when he finally learned of his family roots at high school.

Fast forward to 2022 and that kid, who almost quit the game, and almost gave up on life, is now one of rugby league’s best players and, more importantly, a staunch advocate for anyone battling mental health issues.

Nicho Hynes has been there. He knows how it can grip you.

There was a time in Hynes’ young life when he was ready to toss in the towel on his rugby league dream.

He even briefly contemplated suicide.

Hynes is not ashamed to talk openly about it or how he hit rock-bottom when his life came crashing down around him after failing to land an NRL contract as a young man.

He’d had an outstanding under-20s season playing with Manly alongside Tom Trbojevic but suffered a late-season injury.

While other players his age were celebrating, the contract he had craved did not arrive.

That’s when he came face-to-face with depression.

In a bid to pick up the pieces, he packed up his life, left his family and his then-girlfriend behind, and headed to Mackay in North Queensland hoping to reignite his career.

He took a job as a teacher’s aide and was playing for the Mackay Cutters in the Queensland Cup, searching for answers.

But it didn’t go to plan.

“Things hit a low, it almost broke me,” Hynes confided in a candid and emotional interview last year with Matthew Johns.

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Hynes opened up to Johns about how one day his roommate and close friend came home to find him sitting on the ground crying.

“I felt empty, completely empty. I was sitting on the ground in tears. I didn’t want to ever feel like that again.

“There was another day when suicidal thoughts came into my head.”

Life growing up on the Central Coast of NSW wasn’t easy for Hynes.

His mother, Julie, was in and out of jail when he went to school between the ages of five and 12.

He remembers watching one day as police took his mother away in a paddy wagon, something no child should ever experience.

But he accepts that while those memories were extremely heartbreaking, they also helped make him the person he is today and that they taught him a lot of life lessons at a very young age.

“It is what it is, and I have moved on,” he said during the interview.

“Now I need to be the best person I can be to help my family out, the best way possible.”

Such honesty from a young man who displays maturity and leadership qualities beyond his years is certainly something rugby league could use to project to parents and young children the image it wants to portray.

If the NRL is looking for a poster boy – and it has had a few flops in the past — then Nicho Hynes is the man.

His football has been outstanding since leaving the Storm to link with the Sharks at a now-bargain $600,000.

He is currently among the leaders in Dally M Medal voting and is either leading or featuring in the top five in many crucial statistical categories.

Through counselling and support groups, Hynes has now put those dark days behind him.

And, the way he is playing for the Cronulla Sharks — currently third on the ladder and headed for the finals — he may not only have achieved his dream of playing in the NRL, but he could also land a premiership title.

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