Nicho Hynes is heading into the 2025 season refreshed and in his best mindset to date, declaring: “(I’m) the most ready I’ve ever been for a game of footy.”
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And coming along for the ride with him this year is a brand new outlook that prioritises work-life balance.
This is all thanks to a special experience that the 2022 Dally M Medallist considers one of his greatest moments — the opportunity to stand next to his best mate on his wedding day in Bali.
“I was the best man… It was one of the best days of my life,” Hynes told foxsports.com.au.
“Weddings are awesome, but being in the bridal party — it was my first proper time doing it — just seeing the emotions of the day, his nervousness it was just a really nice feeling.
“Watching him grow from a young boy to a man and being there every step of the way, it was a pretty cool thing to be a part of.”
It was the best thing that could’ve happened to Hynes after a tumultuous 2024 season.
Earlier in the year, the 28-year-old received a call-up from new Blues coach Michael Maguire to play halfback in Origin I.
It was a belated reward after winning the Dally M Medal as a half in 2022. It was also a well-deserved opportunity after his baptism by fire Origin debut when he was thrown in at centre in the final 12 minutes.
But it wasn’t the fairytale redemption story he had hoped for. Instead, New South Wales were smashed 38-10 and as a result Hynes was dropped for Mitchell Moses.
Hynes, already low on confidence, returned to the Sharks and went on to lose his next three games.
Then, just when things couldn’t get any worse, he suffered a serious ankle injury that sidelined him for two months.
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There was some highlights at the back end of the season, like the Sharks’ breaking their finals drought and reaching a prelim.
But for Hynes personally, it was the most he had been scrutinised in the NRL, which is why the wholesome getaway “probably came at the perfect time” for him.
“There was a lot said about me in the media in the back end of the year, so it was the perfect time to go switch off and be around the best people I know — all my best mates I grew up with in Umina,” Hynes said.
“We were all in the same place at the same time for the first time since forever and I just felt like a little kid again, everywhere I looked there was someone I grew up with.
“We’re all just such a tight-knit group. I just sort of forgot who I was in that moment — I was just the Nicho Hynes that they grew up with.
“They don’t give a s**t about me running out into a stadium full of 80,000 people and playing a game of footy. They just love me for me and it put things into perspective big time that there’s a lot of things that are bigger than a game of rugby league.
“Being there on a special day for your best mate — that’s much more important than losing a game of footy.
“It put a lot of things into a new light for me and moving forward there’s a few things I want to put in place so that I’m not narrowed in on footy 24/7.
“I want to spend time with loved ones and be happy off the field and that’s going to transition onto the field.”
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Hynes and his Sharks had a stellar start to last season, winning nine of their first 10 games, before things started to go a little pear-shaped
“We went on a really good run there. Then the Origin period happened and obviously things didn’t go the way I would have liked in that period,” Hynes recalled.
“Then I think the Sharks’ footy and my footy… it was almost put on hold… it just didn’t go the way we’d like or planned — and that was hard to deal with.”
For that reason, when asked to sum up the 2024 season, Hynes said: “I wouldn’t call it successful.”
But added: “I guess there’s only one team that’s successful at the end of the year. But we trod in the right direction, we won our first semi-final for a while and we got to a prelim for the first time under ‘Fitzy’ (coach Craig Fitzgibbon).”
Hynes is confident he’ll be better for the experience though — he’s even “glad” the rollercoaster that was 2024 hit him the way it did.
“I’ve learned a hell of a lot of lessons from last year and I’m really glad it’s happened, because sometimes you need to learn those lessons,” he said.
“I’ll be looking forward to putting (the lessons) into place this year, and playing a lot better footy.”
So, what are the lessons Hynes got out of last season?
“Staying away from people’s opinions and social media… just really focusing on my life and controlling what I can control,” he said.
“I can’t control what people are going to say and I can’t control the experts on TV talking about certain things.
“And then probably middle parts of the year. I think we maybe we got that wrong a couple years in a row, so I reckon just when we get to that middle part of the year again, really knuckling down and focusing on that so it can set us up for the back end of the year.”
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Hynes could’ve came out of 2024 scarred, but instead he’s back better than ever.
“It’s probably the happiest I’ve ever been in my life and the most ready I’ve ever been for a game of footy,” he said.
“I say a lot previous years about the same thing, but I was just able to go and switch off in the off-season and really just knuckle down on fixing the lessons that I was saying before…
“And becoming a better person: a better family member; a better boyfriend, better brother, better mate.
“I just really found myself in the off-season again, and I’m just really excited to see what we can do as a sharks team this year.”
There’s been another shift for Hynes over the summer and that’s his approach to representative footy.
Hynes was often forthright about his desire to pull on a Blues and Kangaroos jersey in the past, but fans can now expect to hear a lot less about his representative dreams.
“I’m just worried about winning a premiership and that’s it — the Sharks come first,” Hynes said when asked if his feelings about the rep arena have changed.
“If it (rep selection) happens again, it happens again. But all I want to do is win a premiership for the Sharks.
“If we’re in contention to be there at the end of the year then we should be around the top of the table during mid-year — and if we’re doing that then I should be playing good footy.
“If my name gets chucked up again, so be it. But I’m not sitting here saying a goal of mine is to play Origin next year because it’s always a dream to play Origin, but my goal is purely just to make sure the Sharks are in a position to win a comp.
“I reckon I’ve probably been guilty in the past of saying (in the media) ‘I want to play Origin this year’ and maybe losing sight of other stuff.
“But right now where I’m at in my career and my life is just purely the fact that I always want the Sharks to be in a position to win a premiership — that’s all that matters to me.”
And the Sharks are arguably in their best position in years to lift the trophy.
There will be minimal changes to the 17 — except for the addition of reigning Dally M Prop of the Year Addin Fonua-Blake, who Hynes says has “an aura about him.”
Meanwhile, Hynes and his halves partner Braydon Trindall have got another pre-season under their belts together. They could, however, swap positions after doing so for one game last year. But neither could confirm who would wear the No.7 in Round 1.
And perhaps most importantly, the finals curse that’s been haunting the club was finally broken.
The Sharks secured their first finals win since 2018 when they defeated the Cowboys 26-18. It was a moment of vindication for the squad with Hynes saying “we always knew we belong there (playing finals).”
The hoodoo, along with Fitzgibbon’s 0-4 record, was a big storyline heading into last year’s finals series and Hynes admitted the playing group was very much aware of that.
“There was a lot of talk about the Sharks not being able to win a final and as much as you don’t focus on that, obviously it’s there,” he said.
“We didn’t mention it, we didn’t want to talk about it. But obviously every player would have had people around them talking to them about it, whether it’s family, friends or looking on social media — everyone sees it, everyone hears it.
“So it is a bit of an elephant in the room and it is a real thing. As much as you try and say it’s not, it was a real thing. I’m just really glad that we got it done.”
But Cronulla’s joy was short-lived because they were humbled by the eventual four-peat champions the next week.
However, Hynes believes, “if you’re going to go out, you want to go out by the premiers.”
He added: “That’s probably a once in a lifetime team. I know a lot of teams back in other eras have done what they’ve done, but right now the game is the toughest it’s ever been and what they’ve been able to achieve over the last few years is pretty amazing.”
The Sharks took a lot of lessons out of that loss and won’t have to wait long to implement them because they’ll take on Penrith in Round 1 in Las Vegas.
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