Player of the week: Lenny Hayes

By Dalton Woods

Lenny Hayes grew up in the north-west of Sydney and is one of the most successful footballers from the Pennant Hills Demons, a club that has produced All-Australian players, club captains and Premiership stars.

“My dad was from Victoria so he used to watch it (AFL) a fair bit but I played soccer until I was about four and then a mate was joining up at Pennant Hills when I was about seven so I went along with him,” Hayes said.

“We used to go and watch the Swans every week. They had guys like Paul Kelly when I was a teenager and got Plugger up there as well but it was probably the earlier guys like Diesel and David Murphy and these sorts of guys running away for the Swans that I used to love watching.”

He represented the NSW/ACT Rams when they were part of the Victorian TAC Cup competition where Hayes won the Morrish Medal for best player in the competition in 1998.

“It was a great experience. I was a little bit lucky in terms of the timing, the Rams came in when I was 16 so I was the perfect age to come through,” he said.

“Being able to play against the best kids from Victoria was obviously really good for our development and I suppose it put our names up in front of recruiters as well.”

St Kilda took the hard-tackling midfielder with their first round pick, number 11, in the 1998 draft.

So respected at the club was Hayes that, at the age of 24, he was appointed captain on the back of a 2003 All-Australian selection. Under his leadership, the Saints won the 2004 pre-season competition, and finished in the top four, only to be knocked out in the preliminary final by one goal.

After averaging nearly 24 possessions per game in 2005, he was again selected on the wing in the All-Australian side, along with fellow Saint Nick Dal Santo.

Hayes was integral to St Kilda’s 19-game winning streak in 2009, as evidenced by his third All-Australian inclusion, this time in the centre.

In their narrow Grand Final loss to Geelong, he was listed as one of St Kilda’s best with 24 disposals, eight tackles and a goal.

The following year, in the infamous drawn Grand Final against Collingwood, Hayes was awarded the Norm Smith Medal due to his staggering effort of 32 disposals, 12 tackles and a goal.

Perhaps his most admirable feat, however, came in 2012, when he averaged 24 disposals and six tackles a game, winning his third best and fairest at St Kilda, and being shortlisted for the All-Australian team—while carrying a heart condition throughout the whole season.

With fellow Pennant Hills Demons Jarrad McVeigh and Kieren Jack now co-captaining the Sydney Swans, Hayes said he was proud to watch the progress of players from his junior club.

“I think Pennant Hills has got a really strong history of producing AFL players – both the McVeigh’s (brothers Mark and Jarrad), Ray Hall who went to Richmond spent a bit of time there, Stefan Carey who was at the Swans and then Brisbane, so out of all the clubs in Sydney I guess it’s got the strongest history,” Hayes said.

“It’s always been a breeding ground for AFL out that way, the north-west of Sydney, so I still obviously follow those guys (McVeigh and Jack) and their careers so it’s been great for the club and hopefully we can put a bit back into Pennant Hills as well.”

Although he hasn’t lived in Sydney since he was drafted 15 years ago, Hayes has continued to follow the growth of the game north of the border.

“It’s grown a lot,” he said.

“I never thought there’d be two teams in Sydney to start with, I thought that would be unheard of … When I was going to school there was one or two people in the whole school who knew about AFL, you’d never see an AFL ball in the schoolyard but I think it’s come a long way and hopefully it continues to grow.

“It’s good to see the Swans are recruiting some guys – Kieren Jack’s younger brother is now there and obviously McVeigh, Kieren Jack, there’s been a  lot of guys on lists and probably some you haven’t heard of yet in rookie spots and scholarship programs.

“I think it’s still building and with two teams up there now hopefully there’ll be more opportunities.”

On a return to his home state after his illustrious career is finished, Hayes said he wouldn’t rule it out.

“I’ve still got a lot of family up in Sydney but I have been down here for 15 years so I’m pretty settled here but if it was something to do with growing the game, I’m still pretty passionate about that side of it.

“If there was a role there for me, I’d definitely consider it for sure.”