Steelers Harold Matthews Cup prop Hayden Whatman isn’t afraid of hard work, doing his fair share growing up on the family farm in Cowra in Central West NSW.
“My old man and older brother worked on the family farm,” Whatman explains.
“I was on the farm a little, probably not as much as I should have been, helping with whatever I could do.”
That same work ethic is beginning to pay off on the footy field, with the 105kg front rower encouraged to move to the south coast after being spotted playing for Western Rams last year against the South Coast Illawarra Dragons in the Andrew Johns Cup.
“I moved down with my dad, with the rest of my family staying back in Cowra.
“I’ve been down here doing my thing with footy, and it’s going well so far.”
Doing his thing included winning a competition last season for his new club, Albion Park.
“I played under (former NRL player) Jason Hooper, which was probably one of the best seasons of footy I’ve ever had,” Whatman explains.
“To win the comp with Albion Park was a pretty special year.”
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The youngest member of the Whatman clan, with three sisters and a brother, the 16-year-old misses the country lifestyle but knows he has to make sacrifices to achieve his goal of one day making the NRL.
“I do miss the country. You don’t have traffic lights everywhere like here, but I had to move here and adapt to achieve what I want to do with footy.”
Whatman makes no secret that he models his game on former Broncos hardman Shane Webcke and Roosters enforcer Jared-Waerea Hargreaves.
“Shane Webcke was just a workhorse. I’d like to see myself as being a workhorse. Other people might not, but Shane Webcke and the aggression of JWH, I love it.”
An injury picked up in the trials has delayed Whatman’s Steelers debut until this weekend’s Round 3 clash with the Central Coast Roosters at Collegians Sporting Complex.
“I’ve been training hard, and to be given this opportunity to be in the final squad and pull on the Steelers jersey is a pretty special thing to me.
“I’m hoping to go out there, work my hardest, and not let anyone down.”
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