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Red
11th July 2003, 12:45 PM
Hayes enjoying club culture shock
July 11 2003

Chalk one up: former Sydneysider Lenny Hayes leads the league with 379 possessions, an average of 29 per match. Photo: Vince Caligiuri

St Kilda's Lenny Hayes has done well by adding black to his original colours, says Jessica Halloran.

He used to sit in the stands of the SCG, cheer, cheering the red and the white, especially for the likes of the flashy Warwick Capper. Lenny Hayes was Sydney Swans through and through.

But things are different for Hayes these days - he is now loyal to the red, white and black that is St Kilda.

Hayes found it a culture shock when he first arrived in Melbourne a few years ago, especially when he started getting a game regularly.

"It was strange," he says. "There used to be nothing in the papers, AFL-wise, in Sydney, so when I got to Melbourne it really was sort of a shock."

With Hayes's career going so well right now - he is the leading possession-getter in the league with 379, averaging 29 per match - he says he's adapted to the attention, and now enjoys Melbourne's intense football culture.

But would Hayes ever consider coming home to the quieter football life, slipping into the Sydney Swans lifestyle?

"It would be pretty hard to go home, I've got to repay the faith that St Kilda have had in me," he says. "I'm pretty settled down."

Plus it's much cheaper. Consider that Hayes forked out around $350,000 for a house in Melbourne, in comparison to his former St Kilda teammate Swans forward Barry Hall. Hall is believed to have paid about $1 million for a nice abode in Sydney's east.

"Real estate prices are going up in Sydney - it's so expensive," he says.

It's the reason Hayes can identify with the Swans' need for salary cap concessions and allowances - but that sympathy will disappear when he hits the SCG turf tomorrow night.

Hayes will be a danger man against the Swans - he's in the best form of his career so far. But why?

"I'm not too sure, I think it's probably because I have more confidence and self-belief this year," he says. "Also, having Robert Harvey and Stephen Powell from Melbourne playing alongside me, it's good to get a mix in the midfield. We've just been working hard together."

Swans coach Paul Roos notes that despite being ranked 12th on the AFL ladder, St Kilda are a serious threat.

"St Kilda have beaten Brisbane and Adelaide, and that just proves two things - that it's an even competition, and how many good players they have got."

Roos acknowledged that Hayes is a "terrific player", and that he would obviously be marked carefully by the Swans.

Hall, meanwhile, is also having a good season, albeit at times a frustrating one.

He is still finding the going tough in the free-kick column on the stats sheet. So far, he's been awarded just seven this season.

And frustration was evident against West Coast last week, when he managed one lonely goal - there was a bit of wrestling going behind play.

Roos says Hall is doing fine -he has kicked 38 goals for the season and is equal fourth on the goal-kicking table with Brisbane's Alistair Lynch, and when pushed is dealing with it correctly.

"When he is getting a bit frustrated he is handling himself very well," Roos says.

While Hall is making himself a home in Sydney and on the field for the Swans, Hayes will get to savour a little Sin City action tomorrow night.

Hayes sometimes gets home sick, and would rather be in the winter sunshine of the harbour city than the thick chill of Melbourne.

Hayes started kicking the footy around with Pennant Hills when he was eight. He was raised in the north-western suburb of Eastwood, but resisted other sports because of his Victorian father. He played representative under-18 footy for his state, and was picked up for the national draft in 1998 by St Kilda.

His father and family try to get down to Melbourne once a month to watch him play. But Hayes says it's hard tell if he will ever come back to Sydney.

"I would like to go back because of family and friends," Hayes says. "But I'll see how my footy goes."

Hayes enjoying club culture shock (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/10/1057783290244.html)
___________

"I would like to go back because of family and friends," Hayes says. "But I'll see how my footy goes."

...there is hope yet!

penga
11th July 2003, 01:30 PM
why has it been moved to "general", that is extremely relevant to RWO!

penga
11th July 2003, 01:33 PM
great article, very informative...

i dont see how hayes owes the saints or anything, he wasnt picked that high in the draft and hasnt had injury problems, i dont see the issue...

COME HOME!!! PLEASE!!! :D

we would have to do some heavy trading to get him here...

TheHood
11th July 2003, 01:47 PM
Originally posted by penga
why has it been moved to "general", that is extremely relevant to RWO!

AGREED!

Charlie
11th July 2003, 02:44 PM
That just worsens my depression that Hayes isn't a Swans player...:(

Cheer Cheer
11th July 2003, 02:47 PM
Stevens and Fosdike and 2nd round pick for Haynes ?

penga
11th July 2003, 03:10 PM
Originally posted by Charlie
That just worsens my depression that Hayes isn't a Swans player...:(

but he WILL be ;)

penga
11th July 2003, 03:12 PM
Originally posted by Cheer Cheer
Stevens and Fosdike and 2nd round pick for Haynes ?

add in 1st round as well

Charlie
11th July 2003, 03:19 PM
Originally posted by penga
but he WILL be ;)

Ya reckon?

penga
11th July 2003, 03:25 PM
Originally posted by Red
"I would like to go back because of family and friends," Hayes says.

penga
11th July 2003, 04:42 PM
just looking at the saints stat leaders, i didnt realise that lenny is actually 4th overall on tackles as well! 2 behind kirk...

we NEED him now!

a midfield combo of hayes, bolton and kirk would be one to look forward to in the future

penga
11th July 2003, 04:44 PM
surely he would want to get away from the negative, losing aspect of the saints under thomas and come to the positive, winning environment of the swans under roos!

i know which one id prefer in a completely unbiased view

omnipotent
11th July 2003, 04:56 PM
I took that ever, to mean, in his lifetime. I doubt Hayes would ever move in his footy career. Most players when they get a taste of the attention the press gives them in the football states seem to lap it up. I doubt if he would ever move and he sounds like captaincy material. If they are going to come back to their state of origin, statitistically they do it in the first four years or so

SXP
11th July 2003, 05:04 PM
If Lenny doesn't change his story after H&A season and is happy to stay in Melbourne, then he won't be traded. If the Saints like him he'll stay.

ugg
11th July 2003, 05:17 PM
1998 Draft
Pick 3 - Nic Fosdike
Pick 4 - Ryan Fitzgerald
Pick 8 - Jude Bolton
Pick 11 - Lenny Hayes

We had our chances to take him. He'll be at the Saints for some time yet.

Jeffers1984
11th July 2003, 05:56 PM
My family friend was good friends with Lenny at high school and he was so desperate to go to the swans, cause he followed them and wanted to stay close to family and friends..... he was absolutely shattered that we didn't pick him.

Obviously times have changed and he seems pretty settled down there, but let's hope that we can somehow lure him back to the harbour city!!

Charlie
11th July 2003, 08:24 PM
Originally posted by Red


"It would be pretty hard to go home, I've got to repay the faith that St Kilda have had in me," he says. "I'm pretty settled down."


___________

"I would like to go back because of family and friends," Hayes says. "But I'll see how my footy goes."

...there is hope yet!

Penga... see the problem?

penga
14th July 2003, 01:49 AM
Originally posted by Charlie
Penga... see the problem?

"I would like to go back because of family and friends," Hayes says.

this is all that is relevant IMO

:p ;) :D