How Hynes went from unwanted to Origin

A cut-out ball and 50-metre try for Mackay against Norths Devils in 2018 were the moments that sent Nicho Hynes on the path to NSW State of Origin duties.

Nicho Hynes still remembers the rugby league game that changed his life.

Unwanted by Manly when he finished under-20s, Hynes was going nowhere fast in his second year of Queensland Cup with Mackay.

In his first season at the club he had failed to impress scouts at North Queensland, as Mackay finished out of the 2017 finals.

The 2018 season had started no better, and Hynes later admitted he was questioning where his career would go from there.

Then came May 5 at Bishop Park in 2018, where Hynes laid on a cut-out ball for one try and ran 50 metres for another in a shock 26-10 win over a red-hot Norths Devils.

“It probably was the turning point,” the Cronulla star told AAP.

“I was even talking to my dad about it when I got picked in this Origin squad.

“Just remember back in Mackay five years ago, sitting there with no NRL contract, not knowing if I could ever play NRL.

“I was really doubting myself over whether I could make it or not. I thought I was done, and there was no way I was getting back into the NRL.

“And here I am now, I am mixing it with the best. I pinch myself every day.”

Luckily for Hynes, the match was the televised fixture of the round.

And 170km away in Toowoomba the chairman of Melbourne’s feeder club Sunshine Coast, Ashley Robinson, was watching.

“We were desperately in need of some halves at the Falcons,” Robinson said.

“This kid was playing No.7, his kicking game was good. They towelled up Norths and Mackay was going nowhere.

“I called (Falcons CEO) Chris Flannery, who was meeting with the next year’s coach Eric Smith, and said, ‘Turn your TV on. We have to get this bloke’.”

From there, the move was made, and Hynes was put on the path back to the NRL and ultimately NSW State of Origin camp as 18th man.

Flannery approached the Storm suggesting Hynes as an option for their 2019 Queensland Cup roster, as well as a partial pre-season in Melbourne.

He impressed there, with the Storm already well aware of his talents from his days as an under-20s playmaker who always had his hands on the ball.

The now-25-year-old then doubled down by starring in a match for the Falcons against fellow feeder club Easts Tigers months later, finally winning over the Storm for good.

“The Storm were up in Townsville, and I think Craig Bellamy and (football boss) Frank Ponissi were watching that game on their phones at the airport,” Hynes said. 

“That’s when they got a bit excited about it, because they knew how hard I had trained.

“I got a call a couple of days later from Frank saying we are keen to sign you. 

“That was one of the best phone calls I have ever had.”

A call matched only by the one from Blues coach Brad Fittler last week.