Cronulla Sharks star Nicho Hynes opens up on suicidal thoughts, depression and growing up in a prison environment

Cronulla Sharks star Nicho Hynes is one of the most impressive young players in the NRL at present.

And, he’s even more impressive considering where the former Melbourne Storm utility man has come from.

Born in Gosford, Hynes’ parents split when he was two, but tragedy followed Hynes around and his stepfather lost his life behind the wheel of a truck after falling asleep.

“Obviously mum was pretty distraught and I had to go back and live with the father and my step-mum,” Hynes told the Daily Mail.

“My mum was in and out of jail from when I was about five to 12 years old, pretty much my whole primary school life I had to live without a mum.”

However, things began to hit Hynes more seriously when a horror hand injury forced the utility man into the periphery despite impressing in Manly Sea Eagles’ under-20s squad.

As he failed to make it big in the NRL, Hynes was demoted to the Mackay Cutters and feared that his chance would never come to show what he can do on the big stage.

Hynes said it wasn’t until one off-season when he went home to visit his family that he realised he had hit ‘rock bottom’.

“I just balled my eyes out… throughout that day I was just upset all day, crying, that day, bloody suicidal thoughts came into my head.

“I don’t know if I went home and found something to do it, whether I would have done it, but to sit here having to look back on it – having to get suicidal thoughts in your head, that’s not okay.”

Now, though, at 25 years of age, Hynes has dragged himself out of that hole and could, arguably, become one of the greatest NRL signings in 2022.