A mighty Saint with a heart of class

Adored by his St Kilda fans and acknowledged by supporters throughtout the competition as one tough cookie, Lenny Hayes relaxes at Torch cafe in Richmond. Picture: Alex Coppel Source: Herald Sun

Hayes played all of the last season with a heart condition. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun

LENNY Hayes has a game face and a life face. The game face is intense and focused.

And if we can wax lyrical, sometimes you'd swear you can see the determination bursting out of his red, white and black jumper.

The life face is much different. Hayes is a smiler.

Sometimes it's a sheepish smile, when he has to listen to accolades poured on him, but mostly it's a fun, happy smile, a smile of a bloke content in life.

This day, Hayes was smiling aplenty.

He had just come from the Epworth Hospital, where his surgeon had given him the second tick of approval since open heart surgery in early September.

The football world was shocked, and initially fearful, when it was announced Hayes had had heart surgery.

It was to correct a leaking heart valve which was discovered after Christmas when the club put their players through fitness and health checks.

Hayes described it as a simple heart procedure, but a 24cm worm-like scar from the top of the chest plate to below the sternum suggests this wasn't simple keyhole surgery.

"It's about 11 weeks since the surgery, so we just had to tick some stuff off," Hayes said of his visit.

"It's going well and we're off to Colorado next week. Just had to get the all clear."

It was the second consultation since the surgery.

Incredibly, Hayes played with the condition all year. In fact, he played with it all of his career.

Combine it with his return from a second knee reconstruction and Hayes winning the St Kilda best and fairest ... well, this is Lenny Hayes.

Is there a more respected and admired footballer in the competition than "Lenny"?

In a way, he is the new Matthew Richardson.

He's tough, fearless, inspiring and respected and the heart scare only adds to the legend. Typically, Hayes played it down.

"Yeah, it's been beaten up a fair bit," he said. "It's why I wanted to talk about it.

"The club said we could get everyone down at the club and do a press conference, but I would rather just be honest about it, get it out there, and hopefully I don't have to answer questions about it again. I understand everyone's interest, but it was the same with my knee, I get sick of answering the same questions.

"The fact is, they reckon I've probably had it my whole life. But any time you hear anything about the heart, you think, s---, but I had no symptoms.

"But because of where it was in my heart, we had to have the more serious side of the surgery. It's a fairly common thing; all it was was a hole in the heart, and they closed it up.

"Blood didn't circulate like it's meant to - which means one side of the heart had to do more work, which gets a little bit enlarged.

"I found out pre-season, when I had extra tests done, and they said I would have to get something done at the end of the year.

"I asked if it could wait another year, thinking I might have one year left, but they said we'd feel better if we get it done now."

The initial fears were swapped for relief, and then comedy.

That his heart was too big for his body, that it needed a reduction, that it pumped too hard, etc etc.

Of course, they were compliments.

Always, there's a price to pay to play the game and most often it's injuries. For Hayes, it's injuries and fame.

He admits, sheepishly again, he struggles with all the hero-worship.

"I've always liked letting my footy do the talking. At the end of the day, we're good at football. It's not like we do anything life changing. I don't know, I've always seen football as just a game and a passion of mine."

Still, his teammates love him, the media bluster about him, women want to be with him, and men want to play footy like him.

I don't think I've done too much differently than what I've done these past 10 years, and I don't know whether it's the fact you get over 30 that it comes. It's like any job, the longer you are in a position the more people get to know you, and to be successful you have to do it over a long period of time.

The public's response to his heart issues was at times overwhelming.

I'm appreciative of all the support I've had. I get non-St Kilda fans wishing me all the best, and that means a lot. You don't expect it. It's a little embarrassing.

"I don't like talking about myself, I don't think anybody does, but, yeah, the footy community is good like that. If you see a guy get a big injury, the footy community gets around people."

Part of the love is Hayes's normalcy. He's not a big-head and he's not flamboyant, and he plays footy hard and socialises hard enough.

It's another Richo trait.

"That's fair," he said. "I consider myself professional but a big part of playing team sport is enjoying each other's company and that's something I enjoy as much as the next bloke. I love having a beer with the teammates. As you said, do the hard work and then you enjoy it together. It's a big reason why I play team sport.

It's changed a lot and it's different perhaps because I'm older and married, but there's still times when you need to have a couple of beers. Maybe that's just me."

Pressed to remember any time of his career when he was criticised, he says: "Oh yeah, I've copped some over the fence at times. From the media ... yeah, I've been put under the pump. Every player has.

"After playing bad finals early days, and when I first got drafted I was questioned over my pace, which was fair enough, and then when I did my knee - Is he going to be right? - so there's always things out there."

Hayes first did a knee in 2006 and the second in 2011.

He had the regular surgery procedure for both.

The second created a few self-doubts, mainly about whether he could come back and be the same Lenny Hayes aged 32.

"I suppose 2011 was a bit different because I had been through it before, so I knew what to expect. I had the conventional surgery and if there's blessing to doing one, it's doing it early in the year so you can come back and have a full pre-season and get into it.

"And of course I had doubts. You never know what will happen and you need a little bit of luck coming back from injuries as well, and I was able to do a lot of training. Still, I went into the season a little underdone. I played a half in the NAB, I got knocked out against Collingwood in the first two minutes in the practice game, and then we went to Perth and played three quarters.

"So I felt a little underdone and then I played s---house against Port in Round 1."

His form after that was more consistent than his team's. The Saints won 12 games and lost 10, and could never string more than two wins together.

Hayes admitted to believing at times that a premiership was not beyond the team.

"When you get older all you need is a sniff, even just to play finals. OK, I didn't think we were ever in the best position to win a flag, but I think every team in the eight were a chance on their day."

Post-season centred on the heart operation, and then three weeks in America with his wife Tara, mainly to attend the wedding of teammate Nick Riewoldt in Waco, Texas.

Up to 15 teammates and former coaches Grant Thomas and Ross Lyon were there, and in small-time Waco the local sports bar called Crickets took a hiding, simply because it was the only drinking establishment..

"Yeah, it was a great weekend," Hayes said. "The boys had the footy trip in Cancun (Mexico), which I was shattered about because I couldn't go on, but, yeah, it was good to spend a couple of weeks over there."

Hayes is as excited about next year as any other year.

He says the club is arresting its youth shortage and, in coach Scott Watters' first season, it had seen an injection of new talent.

"And we will pick up another four or five at the draft," he said.

On a tailored program, Hayes arrived at the first day of pre-season training and naturally became the story.

"The way he presented himself after the operation he's been through, in terrific condition, on a modified program, but really looking forward to going to Colorado," Watters said.

He's a terrific story for a million reasons. He's an outstanding guy."

Starting his 15th season, you suppose the next question is: Will it be his last?

He's 32, turning 33 in January, but age does not seem to weary him.

"I'm not going to stick around if the club wants to play more young guys or we're no chance to play finals," he said.

You have to earn your ride. No one deserves a game for what they've done in the past. If the coach sees a role for an experienced midfielder, maybe playing a different role, and not inside, inside, inside all the time, then it might be all right.

With a smile, he said: "I always thought I could play forward."

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