Nicho Hynes was left out of the Storm’s Round 1 team last year. Less than three months later a staggering six NRL clubs were chasing him.

Everything has fallen into place for Hynes. He enjoyed a breakout season for the Storm, was included in the New South Wales extended squad for Origin III and became a marquee signing for the Sharks.

But, as it’s been well-documented, his journey to NRL stardom wasn’t exactly a smooth ride.

 

Hynes made the move to the sunshine state to play for the Mackay Cutters in the Queensland Cup after graduating from Manly’s under 20s side. It was up in Mackay that he genuinely thought he’d never play first grade and considered studying to become a teacher as a back-up plan.

But he caught the attention of the Storm and switched to their feeder side, Sunshine Coast Falcons in 2019 before making his debut later that year.

 

He had to wait until 2020 to get a second shot in the NRL, but ended up adding 11 more games to his name.

 

Hynes was named on the bench for the grand final that season, but never got onto the field. As a fullback or half by trade, he was stuck behind Ryan Papenhuyzen — who was one step ahead having just enjoyed his own breakout season — as well as Cameron Munster and Jahrome Hughes.

 

An injury to Papenhuyzen last season saw Hynes get an opportunity in the No.1 jersey. What he didn’t realise at the time though was that it was the start of an incredible rise that would see him become the most in-demand off-contract star in the competition.

 

“It’s pretty crazy, to be honest,” Hynes said.

 

“Even three or four years ago I didn’t think I would ever put an NRL jersey on. This time last year I got to play in the finals series, was in the grand final team and was like ‘well, what’s my role going to be?’ because Paps was fully fit, ‘was I in the 17? Or was I not in the 17?’

 

“I always knew my ability was there to do what ‘Paps’, Munster and ‘Hughesy’ could do because I learnt a lot off watching them. I just thought ‘if I get a good run of footy, I can do the exact same thing’.”

 

And that’s exactly what happened.

 

Hynes went on to star at either fullback or in the halves 17 times last season — but it only took around four games to capture the attention of rivals.

 

There was a lot of speculation around who would land the hottest signature in the game at the time.

Conscious of wanting to remain humble, Hynes admitted the interest was “good.” But what he really means is that the interest was... well, great.

 

“There was a lot more (interest) than I had ever dreamt of. There were a few (clubs)... I don’t want to sound arrogant...

 

“I ended up meeting with the Sharks, Broncos, Warriors, there was almost a meeting with the Dragons, the Raiders called as well, and the Cowboys.”

 

Not bad for a guy that was seriously considering turning to his back-up plan a few years ago.

 

“Come to negotiations time I was like ‘far out, this is happening’,” he added.

 

“I’m used to Queensland Cup or reserve grade teams wanting to sign me. Now I’ve got a handful of NRL teams. It was just unbelievable.