Lenny Hayes takes us behind the scenes and into the locker room at St Kilda football club, the team he has played with since being selected as a rookie from NSW. Interwoven through Lenny’s story are the highs and lows of the long playing career of an outstanding professional. Lenny was made captain of St Kilda in 2004, and co-captain in 2007 when the leadership team included Justin Koschitzke, Luke Ball (co-captain) and Nick Riewoldt (co-captain), Aaron Hamill, Fraser Gehrig, Nick Dal Santo and Robert Harvey. Lows have included a knee reconstruction that took him off the ground for most of a year. And at the end of 2012 it was discovered that Lenny Hayes had played his entire career with a hole in his heart and underwent successful open heart surgery. Undaunted, he returned to play at the beginning of the 2013 season. Lenny Hayes has been selected as an All-Australian, he has won the Trevor Barker medal (best and fairest) three times, as well as a Norm Smith medal in 2010. He has been awarded life membership of the AFL. Lenny’s career has been at a club that has seen its fair share of dramas and sensations but as everyone who knows Lenny in AFL, Lenny has always been the gentleman of football and has soldiered on regardless.
'"I'm really glad I [wrote] it, as I've got a 10-month-old son [Hunter] ... so I'll be able to pull the book out every now and then and tell him that I used to go all right."' — Lenny hayes, launceston Examiner (11 October 2015)
'As a St Kilda supporter I have lived through more than my fair share of wooden spoon eras, when it took plenty of resolve and a touch of masochism just to front up to the match. Apart from the binds of team loyalty and the stubborn refusal to let poor form impact my dedication to the team, in each of St Kilda's darkest periods there has been an obvious inspiration that has given me more than enough reason to head out to the football each week. In the 1980s it was Trevor Barker, in the 1990s it was Robert Harvey and for the past 14 years it has been Lenny Hayes.' — Elise Potter, Geelong Advertise (18 July 2014)
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Lenny Hayes takes us behind the scenes and into the locker room at St Kilda football club, the team he has played with since being selected as a rookie from NSW. Interwoven through Lenny’s story are the highs and lows of the long playing career of an outstanding professional.
Lenny was made captain of St Kilda in 2004, and co-captain in 2007 when the leadership team included Justin Koschitzke, Luke Ball (co-captain) and Nick Riewoldt (co-captain), Aaron Hamill, Fraser Gehrig, Nick Dal Santo and Robert Harvey.
Lows have included a knee reconstruction that took him off the ground for most of a year. And at the end of 2012 it was discovered that Lenny Hayes had played his entire career with a hole in his heart and underwent successful open heart surgery. Undaunted, he returned to play at the beginning of the 2013 season.
Lenny Hayes has been selected as an All-Australian, he has won the Trevor Barker medal (best and fairest) three times, as well as a Norm Smith medal in 2010. He has been awarded life membership of the AFL.
Lenny’s career has been at a club that has seen its fair share of dramas and sensations but as everyone who knows Lenny in AFL, Lenny has always been the gentleman of football and has soldiered on regardless.
