Californian prop John Hayden played in Major League Rugby between 2018-2020. He represented the Seattle Seawolves for his entire MLR career.

Born and raised in Fallbrook, CA in northern San Diego County, John Hayden began playing rugby at Fallbrook High School in 2006. By 2010, he had been named a High School All-American before moving to the Pacific Northwest, where he played with the Seattle Saracens and enrolled at Central Washington University in 2014. Hayden played with the CWU Wildcats between 2015 and his graduation in 2017, and was named to the USA Selects squad for the Americas Pacific Challenge that same year, finishing as runners-up to an Argentina XV that featured players familiar to MLR fans such as Tomy de la Vega and 2025-26 MLR Back of the Year Gonzalo Bertranou.

In December 2017, the Seattle Seawolves announced that they had signed John Hayden for Major League Rugby’s inaugural season in 2018. He appeared in all 8 regular season games for Seattle that year, with his lone start coming in a Round 7 victory over the Houston SaberCats. This victory secured a playoff spot for the Seawolves, where Hayden scored his lone MLR try in their Semifinal victory over the San Diego Legion. He also featured as a reserve in the 2018 Championship Game, helping Seattle secure MLR’s first Shield. He racked up just under 300m gained in possession that season, notably high for a front row reserve.

Hayden returned for a second year with the Seawolves in 2019, and helped them successfully defend their Shield with another 8 appearances for the team in the regular season but wouldn’t feature in the post season as Seattle defeated the San Diego Legion to secure back-to-back Shields. In his 3rd year with the team, he earned a single appearance before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the season down after 5 games, coming off the bench in Seattle’s only victory of 2020 against the New England Free Jacks. This would be Hayden’s final Major League Rugby appearance.

A 2x MLR Champion, John Hayden earned 19 appearances for the Seattle Seawolves over 3 seasons, starting once and scoring his lone try in the 2018 postseason. He completed 67 tackles on defence while gaining 387m in possession.

achievements

• 2018 MLR Champion: Seattle Seawolves
• 2019 MLR Champion: Seattle Seawolves