Nicho Hynes wants to change scheduling of the All Stars match. Peter V’landys likes the idea

4 weeks ago 4

Nicho Hynes has called for the All Stars game to be given the respect – and exposure – he says it deserves by staging it as a standalone fixture on the first day of the rugby league season.

The game’s best Indigenous and Maori players will do battle on Sunday week in Hamilton, the same day Hynes’ Cronulla play Parramatta in a trial at Henson Park as part of the NRL Pre-Season Challenge.

Nicho Hynes helped promote the Starlight Children’s Foundation’s Super Swim Challenge on Monday.

With seven other trials scheduled to be played the same weekend, the All Stars game has been reduced to an afterthought, Hynes said.

Hynes will join Sharks teammate Braydon Trindall, Josh Addo-Carr, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Jack Wighton, Tallis Duncan and Josh Kerr as big-name inclusions when the squads are released on Thursday.

Souths pair Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker will not play so they can focus on being 100 per cent fit for their club come round one.

The timing of the All Stars game should be played has become an annual talking point in league circles.

Some clubs would prefer to see the game dumped altogether because of the packed schedule. Others have discussed moving the fixture to the end of the year, potentially on the Friday night before the NRL grand final, with the winners of the Koori Knockout and Queensland’s Murray Carnival going head-to-head as the curtain-raiser.

The Cronulla star was one of several stars at Monday’s Starlight Children’s Foundation launch.

Hynes believes February is the perfect time to hold the match – but said it was important to ensure it did not clash with club football.

“I feel like it should be the first game your eyes are on – all the fans should be watching that game,” said Hynes, as he helped launch the Starlight Children’s Foundation’s Super Swim Challenge in Bondi on Monday.

“I feel like we’ve got it wrong this year by playing it on a Sunday arvo on February 15, which is the second week of the trials. It should be the Friday night before anyone else kicks off. That’s what it used to be back in the day.

Nicho Hynes in action for the Indigenous All Stars in 2024.

“One of the most exciting spectacles in our sport is watching the Maoris do their Haka, or us do our dance beforehand – and that’s women and men.

“A lot of eyeballs are on it. I feel like it should be the only thing you see – the first kick-off should be that [game] every single year.

“I remember being a kid, that first Friday night of the [rugby league] year, sitting with my legs crossed in front of the TV absolutely loving watching Johnathan Thurston, Wendell Sailor, Greg Inglis, Sam Thaiday, Preston Campbell, all the greats in the game.

“All I ever wanted to do was play in that game. I get to do it. [But] I reckon we need to do a better job at [scheduling it].”

Hynes missed last year’s game due to the Sharks’ commitments in the season opener in Las Vegas, with their second trial played just 48 hours before the All Stars match.

Moving the All Stars to the front of the queue would allow Vegas-bound Indigenous and Maori players to take part, then return to their clubs to fulfil any pre-season commitments, Hynes said.

ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys said he was open to making the All Stars the first game on future calendars.

“It’s a good idea,” V’landys said. “We’re always looking at when we should play the All Stars, and maybe the best spot for it is the first game of the year.

“I always welcome feedback, and especially from a person of the calibre of Nicho, who I hold in high regard both as a person and as a player.”

Hynes said the week-long camps were the ultimate way for the Indigenous and Maori players to “fill their cup”.

“I love representing our people, going into camp, being surrounded by the culture, the boys, the elders, the dance crew – it’s helped me evolve into the person I am today,” he said.