Nicho Hynes and Cronulla Sharks coaches save man hanging from a bridge from falling to his death
Two months ago, Nicho Hynes said he “would rather save a life than score a try”. Last Sunday he did, rescuing a man hanging from a bridge and threatening to fall to his death.
When
Nicho Hynes flung open his passenger door on the iconic Sea Cliff Bridge, just north of Wollongong, it seemed like everything else was moving in slow motion.
A distraught teenage girl was pacing the pavement with a phone pressed to her ear.
An elderly couple shuffled out of the way, confused and frightened.
From the driver’s seat of his parked car, a man in his late 30s was yelling towards the hand railing of the bridge.
The sound of passing car horns felt distant, almost drowned out by the dire situation that was unravelling.
Yet everything else was racing inside Hynes: his mind, his heartbeat, his legs.
As the NRL star and Sharks assistant coach Steve Price hurried towards the intense commotion, around 1.30pm last Sunday, they discovered a man on the wrong side of the railing.
Leaning forward, the distressed man stared down at the rocky 135-foot drop.
He was screaming for his life to be over.
Only the strained grip of his hands wrapped to the steel railing stopped him from falling to his certain death.
Just 90 seconds was all it took for Hynes, Price and fellow Sharks assistant coach Daniel Holdsworth to save the 57-year-old’s life.
“When I jumped out of the car, Pricey (Price) also jumped from his passenger seat while DJ (Holdsworth) began calling an ambulance,” Hynes said.
“People were watching on, almost in a daze.
“I thought, ‘What the hell is everyone doing?’
“So I just ran towards him.
“I didn’t want to see what we could’ve seen (the man jumping).
“I didn’t say anything straight away. I just grabbed his arm so he didn’t let go of the bridge.”
They didn’t have time to think about their decision to run towards the father of two.
They didn’t have time to think that their human instincts to help the man could indeed have the opposite effect.
That their hurried feet running towards the railing could result in the man letting go.
No one could imagine the trauma and psychological impact that could have followed.
“It is upsetting to think about now, what could’ve happened. That’s something that you never want to contemplate, but at the time we just wanted to help,” Hynes said.
Price added: “When we approached him it took about 15 seconds for him to realise that we weren’t here to judge him — we were here to help.”
Hynes and Price shifted the subject from the obvious.
What’s your name?
Where are you from?
Do you like footy?
What team do you support?
“I then said, ‘Do you know this bloke?” Price said, while gesturing towards the 2022 Dally M winner.
“He said: ‘Oh, Nicho Hynes’.
“It was at that moment we could feel him relax a little bit and then, almost simultaneously, I gave Nicho a little nod.
“We each grabbed one hand on the back pocket of his jeans and the other hand on his top and we pulled him back over the high railing.
“It was about a minute-and-a-half and we had him back over the fence.”
The Sharks trio had been on their way to a barbecue at Cronulla head coach Craig Fitzgibbon’s house, just south of the Sea Cliff Bridge, last Sunday when their extraordinary instincts took over.
“I was driving and I could see that a car had pulled over on the bridge with its lights flashing,” Holdsworth said.
“I said to Nicho and Pricey, ‘That guy is going to jump’.
“It’s amazing what your instincts lead you to do in that situation.
“I’m not sure everyone would do the same thing.
“Nicho and Pricey were seriously brave in my eyes, they didn’t hesitate. They ran straight toward the guy as I pulled over to phone an ambulance.”
With the man sitting safely on the pavement, Hynes and Price then led him towards Holdsworth’s car.
“We just kept talking to him, about his life, his kids, who he used to play footy for, his reasons for supporting the Bulldogs,” Hynes said.
“And that, with help, he could get through the pain that he was in.”
Price added: “I was in the back seat with him.
“And just told him that he’s just met three new mates.
Holdsworth drove the man towards the lights and sirens of oncoming police and ambulance, pulling over to help the man into the care of professionals.
“I grabbed his number before he got out of the car and told him that we wanted him to get the help he needed and that once he was ready, we’d get him to a Sharks game,” Hynes said.
The incredible intervention unfolded less than 24 hours before Hynes would suffer a broken ankle and major ligament damage at Sharks training.
He will miss the next eight weeks of the NRL season for Cronulla.
“You’d think the karma gods would be on my side,” Hynes smiled.
Despite the disappointment of requiring ankle surgery, Hynes called the man to check on his welfare last Wednesday.
“It was nice to hear that he was in a better place, he’s getting the professional help that he needs,” Hynes said.
“He thanked us, which is nice.
“But really, we were just doing what I hope anyone else would do in that situation.’’
The decision by one of the NRL’s most popular players, alongside two of the game’s most respected coaches, to save a man’s life is one of the most extraordinary stories of the year.
It’s also layered with deep and personal meaning for Hynes.
Less than two months ago, the Sharks star announced that he was using his own mental health battles as the driving force behind the launch of his very own Mental Fitness Round, which was held last May when Cronulla played St George Illawarra, and that he plans to grow into an annual event.
Hynes claimed at the time that such was his passion to encourage men, women and teenagers to be more vocal about mental health that he
“would rather save a life than score a try.”
Unimaginably, that happened last weekend.
