NRL superstar Nicho Hynes has delivered a powerful message after two former players from another major football code, the AFL, died this week.
The AFL world was devastated when news broke on Tuesday that the body of former Brisbane Lion Troy Selwood had been found, and was again left reeling when it was revealed the following day that former West Coast Eagle Adam Hunter had also died. Neither the death of Selwood, 40, nor Hunter, 43, are being treated by police as suspicious.
Hynes, halfback for the Cronulla Sharks, is among the most passionate and vocal ambassadors for mental health in Australian sport.
"It's probably the most important thing at the moment in life, I reckon," Hynes said of speaking up about mental health troubles in an interview with Wide World of Sports.
"We're so past the days of men not being able to speak about their feelings. We're not in the early 2000s or '90s anymore where you're not tough if you speak about your feelings … Suicide is happening too much, it's a real thing and … we need to stop, we need to help and we need to speak about feelings.
"They [Selwood and Hunter] would have had successful careers in their own right, and who knows what happened after? But maybe we need to put things in place where we continue to support athletes after they finish their career."
Nicho Hynes of the Cronulla Sharks. Getty
Hynes and former Sharks teammate Dale Finucane are ambassadors for Find ya Feet, an organisation that runs workshops at schools and sports clubs to help "fellas young and old", as its website notes, navigate life.
Swimming great Samantha Riley, cricket legend Matthew Hayden and former AFL star Majak Daw are also ambassadors with Find ya Feet.
In 2024, Hynes also co-launched with Gus Worland's Gotcha4Life an annual Mental Fitness Round to take place at Shark Park.
A total of 3214 Australians died by suicide in 2023, including 2419 males and 795 females, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Hynes said there was an "analogy" he used.
"When you feel sick you need to go to a doctor," said the 28-year-old.
"Whether you've got a cough or you've got anything going on with your body, you need to take medicine to fix it. And it's the same with mental health; you need to go see someone, you need your medicine, you need tools to fix what's going on in your head. Your cough will keep getting worse and worse and worse if you don't take medicine, and your mental health will keep getting worse and worse and worse if you don't fix it and you don't find the tools to help."
Former Brisbane Lion Troy Selwood (left) and ex-West Coast Eagle Adam Hunter. Getty
Tributes are continuing to pour in following the deaths of Hunter and Selwood, who played their last AFL games in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
"It's just really sad to see," Hynes added, "and there's so many families impacted."
If you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via lifeline.org.au. In an emergency, call 000
