The work no one knew he was doing: Hayden's story at the Gold Coast Titans

Meet Hayden

Hayden is one of our long-time Mates. He's in his early twenties, loves his footy, follows the Gold Coast Titans and plays in the Titans' all-abilities Leagueability program. His support worker is Spencer, and for the better part of a year the two of them have had a standing appointment: a weekly work-experience shift at the Titans hub.

The jobs nobody saw

None of it was glamorous. All of it had to be done. Each week Hayden would:

• open up;
• check the footballs and pump up the flat ones;
• open the women's change rooms;
• empty the bins and tidy up after the players;
• check the expiry dates in the fridge;
• bring in the clean towels, roll them and put them away.

If you've ever turned up somewhere and found it ready for you — balls pumped, rooms open, towels on the shelf — someone did that. At the Titans hub, for close to a year, that someone was Hayden. He didn't ask anyone to notice. He just kept turning up.

"Who's been doing all this?"

One day, Titans NRLW centre Jaime Chapman saw Hayden at the hub with Spencer and asked what he was doing there. She'd assumed a cleaner had been coming through. When she found out it was Hayden, she sent a message to the whole team:

"I am not sure if anyone knows but I sure didn't — Hayden comes in and empties all our bins and cleans up after us, pumps up balls etc. I just wanted to send this in as I thought we had a cleaner come through. IT'S HAYDEN, what a legend 💛💛💛 he has been doing this for the last year…"

— Jaime Chapman, to her Titans teammates

Hayden was recognised by a player he genuinely looks up to, in front of the whole squad. He was also given one of the Indigenous Round shirts normally reserved for players and staff.

Trust mundane tasks are part of the process

A little later, Spencer sent us a photo of Hayden standing beside the Titans Way values wall — the board where the club spells out how it wants to operate. One of the lines behind him reads: "Trust mundane tasks are part of the process."

We didn't plan that. It was just there, on the wall, behind the person who'd been living it every week.

Why this story reached nearly 80,000 people

We told Hayden's story in a short video on our Instagram in September. Five weeks later it had been watched nearly 80,000 times and reached more than 68,000 accounts — around twelve times anything we'd posted before, out of roughly 700 posts. People shared it, saved it and, more than anything, commented about Hayden.

We think it travelled for a simple reason: it's a real story with a twist, it's about character rather than disability, the details are ones you can picture — footballs, towels, expiry dates — and a club people love got behind him. It's a story about turning up and doing the work. Anyone can relate to that.

What it means for our Mates

Hayden's shift at the Titans is community access doing exactly what it's meant to do: a real place, a real routine, a real contribution, and a support worker beside him who knows when to help and when to stand back. Nobody wrote "get recognised by an NRLW player" on a plan. What was on the plan was turning up, every week, and getting good at the job. The recognition followed the work — which is the right way round.

The lesson we took from it is about noticing. Small, everyday wins are worth sharing. Turning up every week is the story. Every Mate has one like it; we just have to pay attention.

Want support like this?

If you or someone you care about would like community access built around real places and real routines, have a look at how we run 1:1 community access on the Gold Coast, or start with a free discovery call — a relaxed chat, no pressure. And if you'd like to meet some of the crew first, our monthly pub night is a good place to start — just get in touch.

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