'Destined for greatness': Hynes earns highest praise from coach

After watching Nicho Hynes claim the Preston Campbell Medal as best on ground in the men's NRL All Stars clash, while playing out of position back at fullback, Indigenous All Stars coach Ronald Griffiths heaped praise on the 26-year-old Sharks star. 

Following a shift from halfback – the position he won the Dally M Medal in last season - to fullback where he started his Telstra Premiership career, Hynes stole the show in Rotorua with a performance which included a try, try assist and 207 run metres in his side's 28-24 win.

Post-match Griffiths said Hynes had been a huge figure in camp throughout the week. 

"On Tuesday before we went out to train we threw him a curveball and said 'we want you to start at fullback'... Nicho took that in his stride," Griffiths said. 

We did a jumper presentation (Friday) and I was fortunate enough to speak about each player, and when I talked about Nicho I said 'he's destined for greatness.'

Ronald Griffiths

"He doesn't walk past anyone without saying hello with a smile. Above all else he is a beautiful person and he's destined for greatness away from rugby league I believe.

"The way he brings everyone together, it might have been the males or the females, or the staff."

Another star in the victory was hat-trick hero Selwyn Cobbo, who bounced back from a disappointing first half to propel his side to victory with a huge final quarter.

The 20-year-old Origin representative's first touch of the game was a dropped kick which led to a Māori try on the next set, while a short time later he spilled the ball with an open try-line in front of him, before redeeming himself with three tries in the space of 12 minutes to close the game out. 

"I spoke to Selwyn at half time and I said 'when you are playing football and you make a mistake, it doesn't matter'," Griffiths said. 

"Then he goes out and does that after it.

"The sky is the limit for Selwyn."

Meanwhile both Griffiths and captain Cody Walker paid tribute to some of their backline squad members who stepped up to play in the forward pack during the game. 

"We knew coming in that we weren't blessed with all this forward pack, so they just had to make do," Walker said. 

"We had a lot of outside backs that had never played second-row. Isaiah Tass is a perfect example. Albert Kelly has never played prop in his life, but he wanted to take it off the kick-off.

"It just shows how much it means."