{"id":480665,"date":"2026-02-15T01:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T01:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/480665\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T01:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T01:42:16","slug":"nrl-2026-all-stars-how-nicho-hynes-evolved-into-indigenous-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/480665\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: All Stars; How Nicho Hynes evolved into Indigenous leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

A presentation by Sharks playmaker Nicho Hynes on the playing style of the Indigenous team helped earn him the captaincy for Sunday\u2019s annual All Stars match against Aotearoa M\u0101ori at FMG Stadium Waikato.<\/p>\n

Hynes was shocked when Indigenous coach Ron Griffiths announced to the team on Friday night that he would be captain but is honoured to be given the role.<\/p>\n

Dragons prop Josh Kerr, who was a late withdrawal on match eve, captained the team last year, while Rabbitohs centre Jack Wighton will be making a record ninth All Stars appearance.<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n \"Indigenous
\n
\n
\n Indigenous captain Nicho Hynes and his M\u0101ori counterpart James Fisher-Harris (right) meet the M\u0101ori Queen Nga wai hono i te po at T\u016brangawaewae marae in Hamilton.
\n \u00a9Anthony Kourembanas\/NRL Photos
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Yet while there are more experienced players in the Indigenous team, Griffiths said he had been impressed by the way Hynes had taken ownership of the game plan and thought he was an ideal choice to captain the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn day one when we walked into camp, we had a bit of a chat about how we want to play and I just handed over to Nicho,” Griffiths said.<\/p>\n

“He presented to the room that night about what we thought would work for our team, our style, and he has owned the team from then, so it is a natural fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think his reaction was a little bit of shock at the time, because obviously there are some players in the team who have had a long, distinguished careers and a bit more experienced than Nicho.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Jack\u2019s ninth All Stars game and one thing we spoke about was that there are 20 guys in the team and there are 20 blokes who need to lead themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hynes, who will make his fourth All Stars appearance, said he could never imagine when he played his last match in 2024 that he would get the opportunity to captain the Indigenous team.<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n \"Nicho
\n
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\n Nicho Hynes practices the Indigenous team’s War Cry.
\n \u00a9Anthony Kourembanas\/NRL Photos
\n
\n <\/p>\n

The Dally M Medallist was only unavailable for the 2025 All Stars as the Sharks were playing in Vegas – a once in a lifetime opportunity he didn’t want to risk missing.<\/p>\n

A proud Wiradjuri and Darkinjung man, he wants to represent the Indigenous team every year and recently called for All Stars to be elevated by being played as a standalone fixture to open the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to evolve, and I am still on my journey of evolving into the proud Indigenous man I am,\u201d Hynes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2022, when I came into this camp, I was just a shy little boy and wasn\u2019t comfortable in my own skin.<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n \"Indigenous
\n
\n
\n Indigenous captain Nicho Hynes has embraced M\u0101ori culture while in Hamilton for All Stars.
\n \u00a9Anthony Kourembanis\/NRL Photos
\n
\n <\/p>\n

“A lot of us players go through those same experiences but here I am now being able to lead out a really great group of men and our nation and all our people back home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is real exciting and last time we played here it was such a good week and it has been one of the best weeks of my life again, and I love coming here and seeing the Maori culture \u2013 it is my favourite culture other than our own.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is something really special and I am really privileged that I get to do every time I pull on this jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n \"Kennedy
\n
\n
\n Kennedy Cherrington (left), with Indigenous playmaker Taliah Fuimaono, will co-captain the M\u0101ori Wahine in her first match on New Zealand soil.
\n \u00a9NRL Photos
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Warriors back Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad has never captained a team at any level before All Stars and will co-captain the M\u0101ori side with James Fisher-Harris.<\/p>\n

The Indigenous Women are co-captained by Sharks hooker Quincy Dodd and Cowboys forward Tallisha Harden, who will become the team\u2019s most capped All Stars player when she makes her seventh appearance. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Eels forward Kennedy Cherrington and Raiders playmaker Zehara Temara will co-captain the M\u0101ori Wahine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A presentation by Sharks playmaker Nicho Hynes on the playing style of the Indigenous team helped earn him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-480665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}