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Hyland ready to take the next step
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Wayne Cousins Wests Tigers Sat, 01 Jan 2011 15:10:00
Matt Hyland feels three solid years of playing in the Toyota Cup competition has prepared him well for the rigours of the NRL.
Season 2011 marks the first year of open senior football for Hyland, a hardworking lock forward who established himself as a fine young player in the making after three seasons in the U20s.
Hyland played 11 matches in the inaugural Toyota Cup season in 2008 in which the Wests Tigers missed the finals. In 2009, Hyland and prop Andrew Fifita were the only players to play all 28 matches for Wests Tigers, who were controversially beaten in the Grand Final by Melbourne Storm.
It was the 2009 season in which Hyland really stamped himself as a player with an enormous work rate, averaging 26 tackles a game. He was rewarded for his efforts by being promoted to the Wests Tigers NRL full-time squad in 2010.
“I thought I had a pretty consistent season in 2010. One area I worked hard on was my attack and I felt more comfortable as the season progressed because I was given the opportunity to use the ball more,’’ Hyland said.
“Having played in the Toyota Cup for the past three years, you get used to the grind of playing 26 rounds and it has certainly helped me prepare mentally for first grade.
“There are no easy games in the Toyota Cup whereas in the junior competitions (Harold Matthews and SG Ball), there was always a team you knew you were going to beat but it is not like that in the 20s as it is so unpredictable.”
Hyland also showed his leadership skills as captain under coach Grant Jones over the past two seasons. He said injuries to key players and an unsettled halves combination were reasons behind Wests Tigers failing to make the U20s finals last year.
“We should have went better than we did. We had a great start, better than we did the previous year, but we didn’t go on with it,’’ Hyland reflected.
“Losing (full-back and goal-kicker) Jake Mullaney to an ongoing hamstring injury really hurt. We always had our half-backs injured and never had a set halves combination. That’s what probably killed us in the end.
“In saying that, we also saw some good young players come through. Ben Murdoch-Masila was a revelation and played in the NRL finals. I thought second-rower Shaun Spence played consistent footy and the younger boys in Mason Talolua and Ethan Tafili were good. Prop Neil Begovich was strong every week. He is a player to watch out for.”
With the comfort of the Toyota Cup now gone, Hyland will continue to apply his trade in the NSW Cup competition whilst continuing to learn under the coaching of Tim Sheens. Hyland is hoping his hard work over summer will see Sheens select him for an NRL trial.
“Playing NRL is obviously a very big step up from the Toyota Cup but I want to make that step,’’ Hyland added.
Source: nrl.com
PS this might belong to the 20’s section, sorry mods.
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Now Im interested in the WTF opinion on this Guy.
Young Ball playing lock ?? -
Also mentions of some of the other youngstars
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real workhorse…definitely should be in line for a debut this year
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Did you watch any 20’s games at all last year…117?
I think we need to wait for smeghead to resurface to get an opinion on Matt Hyland ( Balmain Jnr) straight into a top 25 contract with the Wests Tigers…but I can tell you 1 thing Matt is definitely NOT a ball playing lock…tackles his ring off though…
Jake Mullaney - the reason I believe we didn’t make the 8…excellent support player kicks goals scores tries a half converted into a fullback very much in the Brett Hodgson mould…
Ben Murdoch-Masila… umm played in the semi against ST Choke…Broncos want him bad but no way Sheens will let him go without a fight…
Shaun Spence played busted for half a season carrying a knee injury but plugged on due to fitness and injury issues with other players…
Mason Talolua…I love this kid small for a Prop/backrower but rips in with no thought of self preservation…
Ethan Tafili …just like Mason but a bit more size
Neil Begovich …this kid has First Grade written all over him and IMO could leap frog Woods as a Smokie …I expect him to get trial time with first grade of the bench
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Hyland is a light-weight tackling machine who will struggle to make first grade with Fulton playing a similar role! I agree with Geo - he is not a ball-player of note - and Liam is far superior as both a ball-player and hole-runner!
Jason Schirnack needs to be the next small-ish back-rower to get some decent first grade time - as an overall back-rower he is well ahead of Hyland!
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sorry to burst the bubble but if matt hyland plays first grade we must have about 20 forwards out and be coming 15th. he is without doubt the player i am least excited about in our top squad. ive watched the bloke for 3 years and always scratch my head as to what the club sees in him. this whole ‘tackling machine’ thing is a massive myth. one on one he is a terrible defender. ive seen blokes run over him easily and not even slow down.
his attack is non existant and i see him a crucial error nearly every game. if you remember the gf against meborne we had just hit the front and he drops the ball on our line that allowed the storm to score and win the game. this unfortunately is a regular occurance with him.
i can only imagine the club keeps him around because he is a local junior. as redemtin rightly points out if he were to play first grade ahead of jason shirnack it would be an absolute joke. shirnack is about the same size as hyland but better in every single aspect of the game.
go to any park footy game and you’ll see 85kg blokes making 20+ tackles a game with no attacking talent. i dont see why hyland is better then any of them.
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Schirnack is bigger meaner an tougher than Matt Hyland fullstop….If it wasn’t for the leg injury Jason picked up shorlty after his debut that kept him out of BRET for what seemed like ages then he would have played a lot more first grade last year Im certain…
Dwyer and Schirnack…BASH BROTHERS…they just go together…
We are blessed with youthful back rowers,
Oh and Fergie you dont dump the NYC captain after the first year out…not a good look…
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I reckon he’s a lot like a young Heighno. Tackles his heart out, 80 min player, and makes dirty metres up the middle of the ruck. He’s not a ball playing lock, but he is a tough footy player and I reckon after a couple of years playing against men in State Cup he will be the perfect bench player in FG, playing 20-30 mins a game, not making a mistake, not missing a tackle, and giving a Gareth, Dwyer etc a rest.
If you remember back to when Heighno started, his attack wasn’t anything special, but he was a hard worker, and after plying his trade for a little while at Balmain, he grew into the great player he is now. Don’t write Hyland off yet! He will be up to FG standard if he gets used to playing against men on a consistient basis.
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I reckon he’s a lot like a young Heighno. Tackles his heart out, 80 min player, and makes dirty metres up the middle of the ruck. He’s not a ball playing lock, but he is a tough footy player and I reckon after a couple of years playing against men in State Cup he will be the perfect bench player in FG, playing 20-30 mins a game, not making a mistake, not missing a tackle, and giving a Gareth, Dwyer etc a rest.
If you remember back to when Heighno started, his attack wasn’t anything special, but he was a hard worker, and after plying his trade for a little while at Balmain, he grew into the great player he is now. Don’t write Hyland off yet! He will be up to FG standard if he gets used to playing against men on a consistient basis.
From Dr Jekyll:
fergie has unfairly hammered Hyland - but so would any any decently sized opposition back-rower in first grade currently!!
matty - I am also a Balmain juniors supporter - but Jason S was the back-up captain behind Nicholls for the 2009 NYC grand-finalists!!! Jason has an 80 minute capacity & hits/hurts blokes all day with much tougher defence. He hits holes and keeps going after the initial hit + he ball-plays like Hyland can only dream of!
The blatant fact is that Schirnack is next off the rank (in the Heighno mould) - and Hyland needs to wait!!!
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I reckon he’s a lot like a young Heighno. Tackles his heart out, 80 min player, and makes dirty metres up the middle of the ruck. He’s not a ball playing lock, but he is a tough footy player and I reckon after a couple of years playing against men in State Cup he will be the perfect bench player in FG, playing 20-30 mins a game, not making a mistake, not missing a tackle, and giving a Gareth, Dwyer etc a rest.
If you remember back to when Heighno started, his attack wasn’t anything special, but he was a hard worker, and after plying his trade for a little while at Balmain, he grew into the great player he is now. Don’t write Hyland off yet! He will be up to FG standard if he gets used to playing against men on a consistient basis.
From Mr Hyde:
HAVE YOU SEEN A BLOKE NAMED JASON SCHIRNACK - ENOUGH SAID (HE HAS PLAYED AGAINST MEN THIS SEASON & STILL LOOKS A FUTURE STAR)!!!
I WATCHED HEIGHNO’S DEBUT VERSUS LONDON BRONCOS LIVE AT GOSFORD IN 2003!!!
HEIGHNO WAS ALWAYS BETTER THAN HYLAND - BUT SCHIRNACK COULD BE BETTER THAN CHRIS (WHICH IS A HUGE CALL)!!!
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I take it you are a fan of Jason’s RED….Me too…
Another future KIWI international no doubt in my mind…
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@Geo.:
Did you watch any 20’s games at all last year…117?
I think we need to wait for smeghead to resurface to get an opinion on Matt Hyland ( Balmain Jnr) straight into a top 25 contract with the Wests Tigers…but I can tell you 1 thing Matt is definitely NOT a ball playing lock…tackles his ring off though…
Jake Mullaney - the reason I believe we didn’t make the 8…excellent support player kicks goals scores tries a half converted into a fullback very much in the Brett Hodgson mould…
Ben Murdoch-Masila… umm played in the semi against ST Choke…Broncos want him bad but no way Sheens will let him go without a fight…
Shaun Spence played busted for half a season carrying a knee injury but plugged on due to fitness and injury issues with other players…
Mason Talolua…I love this kid small for a Prop/backrower but rips in with no thought of self preservation…
Ethan Tafili …just like Mason but a bit more size
Neil Begovich …this kid has First Grade written all over him and IMO could leap frog Woods as a Smokie …I expect him to get trial time with first grade of the bench
No 20s for me in 2010 - Dont have fox,
Im loving the different opinions in this thread and the future looks Big and powerful in the forwards for the Tigers
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@Geo.:
Did you watch any 20’s games at all last year…117?
I think we need to wait for smeghead to resurface to get an opinion on Matt Hyland ( Balmain Jnr) straight into a top 25 contract with the Wests Tigers…but I can tell you 1 thing Matt is definitely NOT a ball playing lock…tackles his ring off though…
Jake Mullaney - the reason I believe we didn’t make the 8…excellent support player kicks goals scores tries a half converted into a fullback very much in the Brett Hodgson mould…
Ben Murdoch-Masila… umm played in the semi against ST Choke…Broncos want him bad but no way Sheens will let him go without a fight…
Shaun Spence played busted for half a season carrying a knee injury but plugged on due to fitness and injury issues with other players…
Mason Talolua…I love this kid small for a Prop/backrower but rips in with no thought of self preservation…
Ethan Tafili …just like Mason but a bit more size
Neil Begovich …this kid has First Grade written all over him and IMO could leap frog Woods as a Smokie …I expect him to get trial time with first grade of the bench
No 20s for me in 2010 - Dont have fox,
Im loving the different opinions in this thread and the future looks Big and powerful in the forwards for the Tigers
Myself & Geo have given Jason Schirnack a huge bi-partisan wrap 117!
That united front represents the best & most honest indictement of his quality!!!
He has a Dean Pay type toughness & impact!!! I really like Dwyer etc - but I have seen something special in jase!!
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Hyland is a light-weight tackling machine who will struggle to make first grade with Fulton playing a similar role! I agree with Geo - he is not a ball-player of note - and Liam is far superior as both a ball-player and hole-runner!
Jason Schirnack needs to be the next small-ish back-rower to get some decent first grade time - as an overall back-rower he is well ahead of Hyland!
Agree on Hyland, he’s over rated based on every game I’ve seen him play, although I do have doubts as to whether the club will give Schirnack another crack in FG unless a few of the backrowers are out with injury.
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Are we lucky we are blessed with a number of quality backrowers and plenty of depth. If Schirnack and/or Hyland don’t get a go in the NRL they might have to look at other clubs like David Gower had to with St George. We need another hard hitter like Dwyer in the NRL. If Schirnack is half the player Dean Pay was then we are on a winner. I was never a fan of Liam Fulton until last year when his game lifted up a number of levels. He is now a quality player and plays well above his weight. As we have a long season ahead of us I am a fan of resting players and letting some of our fringe players have a go in the NRL.
