Tame Tyson now a fighter
How Baxter unleashed the beast in Thulani Hlatshwayo
YOU would almost swear Thulani Hlatshwayo has two personality types rooted inside of him, each knowing exactly when to pop up to suit the occasion he finds himself in.
In one-on-one interactions, the Bidvest Wits captain projects such humility and grace in his speech and mannerism; you would be forgiven for thinking he’s a Buddhist monk.
Out there on the pitch, Hlatshwayo, who was named his team’s Player of the Season at the Wits awards function in midweek, transforms into a beast, a defender so clean but yet aggressive in his tackles. Opposing players turn to run out of scoring ideas at the sight of him.
And that’s because the Wits’ admiral hates the idea of losing.
“Tyson”, as Hlatshwayo is affectionately known, will stop at nothing to avoid having that feeling at the end of full-time. It is his current coach, Gavin Hunt, who transformed him into the beast that he is today.
Stuart Baxter, the new Bafana Bafana coach, saw that special quality in him, too. He appointed him the new Bafana captain, following Baxter’s own reappointment as South Africa’s senior national team head coach.
The PSL Awards’ nomination panel could not ignore the contribution Hlatshwayo made at the Clever Boys’ camp this past season, too. They nominated him for three accolades for the upcoming PSL Awards which will take place in nine days time at the Sandton Convention Centre this month.
The 27-year old central defender has been nominated for the Absa Premiership Footballer of the Season, Defender of the Season and the MTN8 Last Man Standing awards respectively.
“I’ve worked with a whole lot of coaches who’ve contributed to me being a player that I am today,” Hlatshwayo says.
“The likes of Foppe de Haan, Roger de Sa and all of my development coaches, all of them contributed. But I have to admit that it was coach Hunt who transformed me into a beast. He awoke something I never thought I had inside of me.
“He (Hunt) just loves winning,” Hlatshwayo adds. “During my stint at Ajax (Cape Town), the team would treat a defeat as something normal and expected to happen to any team. But not here at Wits. He (Hunt) always calls us for meetings after every defeat.
“Normally, after every game played, the team would get an off-day the following day. This is not the case when we lose. He would make us train with the rest of the guys who didn’t play on the day. That’s just the way he is. Hunts builds character in all of his players. If you have a bad game, he would call you for a one-on-one session and try to help you improve on your mistakes.”
It was right after Hlatshwayo joined Wits that he admitted that his game had improved massively at a fast pace.
“I scored two goals a season before I left Ajax (Cape Town) to come here and join Wits,” Hlatshwayo says.
“In my first season here, I scored about five goals in one campaign. He (Hunt) always shouts at both Buhle (Mkhwanazi) and I and asks us why aren’t we pressing more to score goals,” Hlatshwayo chuckles, before adding which PSL award he would really like to win as his first accolade at this year’s awards.
“Personally, there’s only one category which I’m hoping to win this season,” Hlatshwayo says. “And that is the Defender of the Season category.
“It would mean a great deal to me. And that’s because being a defender is not an easy job to have as a player. In that role, you play against very talented and creative players, whom you have to make sure you close down at all times.
“I really want this one because I lost to both Tefu Mashamaite and Thabo Nthethe in the previous two seasons (2014/15 and 2015/16 respectively). I just kept going because I knew what I wanted. I’m hoping that this will be my turn this time around.
“Being nominated (in the other two categories) it’s an award on it’s own for me because as you know, the Footballer of the Season is mostly given to creative players. I’m not seen as a creative player. I’m more of a defender, but I’m the one who’s always expected to close down these creative players.”