The last time Conor Nash played finals — his fourth and fifth AFL game back in 2018 — it was a “complete blur” where he “doesn’t remember a thing.”
Of course, there’s been some down times at the Hawthorn Football Club since then and its surprise return to finals this year.
And so the Irishman’s decision to recommit to the reborn Hawks amid their meteoric rise earlier this season was a simple one, with his sights firmly on team success. As he put it: “I have to be a part of it going forward.”
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Nash in July turned his back on free agency to sign a massive five-year deal with the Hawks until 2029, rejecting interest from rival Victorian clubs with long-term offers in the process.
It was a sign of just how far the 26-year old had come since Hawthorn took a punt on the County Meath product as an international category B rookie signing at the end of 2016.
Not only did Nash want to stay loyal to the club that’s helped shape him into the player he’s become, he also couldn’t possibly abandon what he’s helped build under Sam Mitchell … and the trajectory the club’s heading in.
“It was definitely a bit easier for my manager Pete Lenton to be on the other side and have a bit of leverage,” Nash said of his free agency decision to foxfooty.com.au this week.
“It was flattering in some instances and I suppose you can’t have blind loyalty, you have to know what is out there if you did want to consider it.
“But for me it was never really a viable option. Too many people have been involved in my story here, the way it’s evolved the last few years and the way we’ve evolved as a team. I have to be a part of it going forward.”
Hawthorn’s September campaign got off to a hot start with a thumping elimination final win over the Western Bulldogs, with Nash “soaking it up and enjoying every moment” as the team prepares to hit the road to face the Power in a semi-final.
But like the Hawks in recent years, Nash too has endured rocky times across his journey.
He played just 29 games across his first five seasons — four of those seasons under Alastair Clarkson — including spending the majority of the 2021 campaign in the VFL under then Box Hill coach Sam Mitchell.
Twenty-three at the time, Nash admits his career could’ve gone either way even though he was “playing good footy” for Box Hill in a half-forward role but “just wasn’t able to do that at AFL level.”
The 198cm player got another reminder of how far he’d come after first re-signing in July when Hawks list boss Mark McKenzie dug up old footage of a raw Nash first handling a footy back in 2014, which was shown to the playing group.
Admitting it “wasn’t a pretty watch,” the talented Gaelic football and rugby union convert thinks it was crucial to accept where he stood in the pecking order at Waverley Park.
Nash credits Mitchell, Hawks head of development Andy Collins and midfield coach David Hale for playing key roles in his progression plus “a lot of hard work” even if he “still has a lot of deficiencies in my game now”.
“You’ve got to get comfortable with being the worst. Once you accept that, then you start to go OK,” he said.
“Some guys can struggle with that after going from one of the better players at home and one of the stars to right back at the back of the pack.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last few years because I’ve progressed better and not trying to establish myself. Now we’re winning, so it’s so much sweeter.
“I’m all about the team and I just want success, things are falling into place this year and it’s pretty cool. All I want to do is win.”
Nash has really prospered under Mitchell, playing 68 of a possible 69 games since the third-year coach first took the reins in 2022. Mitchell clearly saw something in Nash from their Box Hill days.
It was the 2023 season when Nash really took his game to another level after midfield opportunities opened up at Hawthorn following the departures of Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara.
Nash finished third in the Peter Crimmins Medal, averaging a career-best 24 disposals per game to go with 4.8 tackles and 4.7 clearances, emerging as a key member of Sam Mitchell’s engine room.
The Hawks put a lot of faith in the likes of Nash, Will Day, Jai Newcombe and James Worpel to lead the midfield into the future — roles they’ve thrived — as Hawthorn’s punt to effectively wipe the slate clean paid massive dividends.
Hawthorn also invested in on-ballers in the national draft during that period including bringing in Josh Ward (Pick 7 in 2021) and Cam Mackenzie (Pick 8 in 2022) with its first selections in consecutive years to give Sam Mitchell a myriad of options.
While so much has been made of ‘Hokball’ and the exciting brand of Mitchell’s Hawks and their fun goal celebrations, an underrated element is their hard-nosed midfielders who do the dirty work.
“We didn’t know who was going to play in the middle or who was going to be there Round 1,” Nash said of the 2022 off-season.
“We probably knew Jai was going to, ‘Worpy’ was starting to find his best footy again. ‘Daysy’ was only just starting to play in the middle.
“It’s kind of just evolved organically. It started pre-season, ‘Mitch’ got us all in who could potentially play inside mid, there were like 10 of us.
“He said: ‘I don’t know who’s going to be there Round 1, obviously I can’t fit you all in’.
“So we just pushed each other to be the best we could and see what we could make of it. Funny how now there’s so many guys who can play in the middle.”
Nash’s long-term deal marks one of the biggest AFL contracts signed by an Irishman as one of the great international success stories.
While his family hasn’t been able to travel to Australia to see him play live in this finals series yet, they watch every game some 17,000km across the globe from Navan — 50km north-west of Dublin.
“My parents watch every game at home, there’s definitely a hawks nest back there. Having a night time game makes it a bit nicer on the time zone over there – it’d be about 12pm in Ireland,” he said.
“There’s been plenty of games over my period where we’ve been playing 1pm Sunday and they’re up at 1am and 2am in the morning.”
Nash said his family has “figured out the AFL rules on the fly,” mainly his brother Edward, who’s “clued in with it all and knows what’s happening.”
He added with a laugh: “Dad is screaming at the TV probably at the wrong time, particularly with how the rules change in season.”
Proudly wearing the Irish flag colours on his mouth guard, Nash holds a special connection with fellow countrymen around the league including being in contact with Geelong duo Zach Tuohy and Mark O’Connor, Adelaide’s Mark Keane and Brisbane pair Conor McKenna and Darragh Joyce.
Those who can get back to Ireland during the off-season get a proper chance to catch up back home.
Nash said it’s his mission to “emulate” what some of the AFL’s best Irish players have done, crediting the retiring Tuohy for his “phenomenal” contributions to the game.
Now 97 games into his career, Nash’s long-term deal means he not only has a chance to sit among the Irishman who’ve played the most AFL matches (Zach Tuohy [288], Jim Stynes [264], Tadgh Kennelly [197], Pearce Hanley [169], Sean Wight [150] O’Connor [122], McKenna [120]), but also become just the fourth Irishman to win a flag alongside Kennelly, Tuohy and O’Connor.
“Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to meet Zach again at some stage,” he cheekily added.
Source Agencies
