Past #17: Nathan Grima

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Good news. May take half 2009 to get up to a level where he can be tried in the Seniors. Could he be developed as a FB to free up Spud & Gibbo?
 
pharro said:
Brad Smith was 53 years old. This is an entirely different situation.
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I was merely referring to RB's mention of a 'mature age rookie'. There was a bit of angst with Eagles fans as Essendon were allowed to with Rama due to circumstance, yet they couldn't do the same with Smith.
 
Arden said:
Good luck if true. Been wondering what was going to happen. How good would it be if he turns into a gun?

AFL must be considering it as a trade-off deal, on the basis we play games on Uranus.
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Vlad: "Okay, so we'll get the $1.2 million back, what do you want in return?"

Eugene: "A rookie list position for Nathan Grima."

Vlad: "Done!"
 
The way it was said to me that 'we reached an agreement with the AFL' suggests to me that he will be on the mature age rookie list but I did not want to post that as I don't know. The only other option is that we put him on our senior list but then we wouldn't need an agreement with AFL to do that.
 
sross said:
The way it was said to me that 'we reached an agreement with the AFL' suggests to me that he will be on the mature age rookie list but I did not want to post that as I don't know. The only other option is that we put him on our senior list but then we wouldn't need an agreement with AFL to do that.
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We must be considering him long term as a prospect ,the chances he can be 100 percent in year one are slim and it is usually after a second pre season the athlete can perform at or near his best .
 
Thewlis Dish said:
West Coast couldn't with Brad Smith.
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You have to have never been on a senior list before to become a mature aged rookie don't you? So perhaps the difference with Smith and Grima is that Smith had his chance and even played a senior game for Collingwood while Grima never even got a chance to be on a rookie list because of his injury.
 

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Of course he's a gun Arden. No one makes the SANFL TEAM OF THE YEAR in the FB position without being a gun. The boy has travelled far and wide to get a go and if this is true, i wish him all the luck and hopefully in 09 or 010 he will be our leading FB in a premiership team.

This is the old article when he first did it:

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Tough break: Kangaroos rookie Nathan Grima rests at home in Evandale, Tasmania, after a season-ending knee reconstruction. Picture: Ross Marsden


  • FOOTY fans won't know Nathan Grima, yet his AFL career might be over before it began.
The 22-year-old late bloomer was into his fifth week as a North Melbourne rookie when, after a regular lead and mark exercise at Trinity Grammar, he hyper-extended his knee on landing.
In the time it takes to snap an anterior cruciate ligament, a 15-year journey that began at junior club Longford, then took him to the Tassie Mariners, South Launceston, the Tassie Devils, Central Districts and finally to the Kangaroos, came to a painful, soul-shattering halt.
Drafted in December, he was on crutches by mid-January and in rehab by February.
Come September, he might never be heard of again.
"I knew straight away," Grima said yesterday. "I heard it go, and it was heartbreaking when I heard the noise."
For the first two minutes, all he felt was the throbbing discomfort of a wrecked knee. Then came the calm.
"The pain went away and I thought, maybe it's not as bad as I thought, but when the doc came out to check, he knew straight away. It was a pretty bad feeling."
Sydney's Nick Malceski and Fremantle's Paul Hasleby might get all the headlines, and more than likely get back to the highest level, but for Grima, the road is far more daunting.
He is 22 and has a one-year contract with the Kangaroos.
AFL rules won't allow Grima to be put back on the rookie list next year. Although the Roos will investigate Grima's position, it is possible his career might read: five weeks training, 0 games, 0 goals.
"The first initial heartbreak was I've worked so hard to get here and I've done my knee and it's all over," Grima said.
"Like, I'm 22 and I haven't played any AFL footy.
"It's not like the bloke who's done his knee, and who has played 100 games and he knows he can also play at the level and he knows he's a required player. I'm still at the bottom of the pecking order.
"So, yeah, my initial thought was I'm never going to play AFL footy."
Rookie is the buzz word in the Grima family. Nathan is the older brother of Todd, 21, who was delisted by Geelong at the end of last year, and Alex, 18, who was put on Hawthorn's rookie list in December. Indeed, his is a strong sporting family.
His dad, Monty, played at representative level in the competitive north v south contests and his older sister, Holly, plays basketball for the Opals. She is currently playing in Italy and has her sights on Beijing.
Grima grew up at Evandale, home to a 1000 people and 15 minutes from Launceston.
Like most footy-mad Tassie kids, he wanted to make it on the mainland. Overlooked for consecutive national drafts, and not over-enthused about a potential AFL career, Grima left the state with Liston Medallist Ian Cullinan and joined South Australia's Central Districts.
He played every game in 2007, which culminated in a premiership and SANFL Team of the Year selection at full-back.
In many ways, 2007 was his final shot at glory.
And so, when Kangaroos recruiting manager Neville Stibbard rang him before the December draft, Grima got the shivers again -- the AFL dream was upon him.
He flew to Melbourne the night of the rookie draft and trained at Arden St the next morning.
"I thought it was the start," he said. "And because I was 22, and had played at state level, it wasn't as daunting or intimidating as it would have been if I'd got picked a few years earlier."
The Kangaroos will ask the AFL at the end of the year to change the rules on mature-age eligibility. Grima will be 23 in August and too old for 2009.
"They have been fantastic to me," Grima said.
"Even though I'm only contracted for one year, they told me not to think about next year and get the knee right."
At the end of the year his fortunes lie with luck and a considerate AFL.
"I'd give my left leg to play a game," he said. "To come this far now and not get the opportunity would be very disappointing.
"If you get to the level and you've given it your all and you are not good enough to make it, you could probably hack that. But to not get an opportunity . . . you'd feel pretty empty.
"I guess if it doesn't work out you just move on, I'll have to accept I'm never going to play.
"But I'm going to work hard and we'll see what happens."
Level-headed and family-loving, he said the spotlight would fall on younger brother Alex.
"The funny thing is we all got to the rookie list, but Toddy didn't get a game and he was looking at me, so hopefully Alex can put his hand up and get a kick for all of us."
 
Nathan reminds me of the kid at school who sat at the back of class and never did his homework, always talking, mucked around, threw things at other students, a typical prankster, keep him.:thumbsu:
 
jozeph said:
Nathan reminds me of the kid at school who sat at the back of class and never did his homework, always talking, mucked around, threw things at other students, a typical prankster, keep him.:thumbsu:
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And now he's worked hard and is currently on our rookie list. I guess that's life.

Scotty McMahon would know all about it.
 
giantroo said:
Of course he's a gun Arden. No one makes the SANFL TEAM OF THE YEAR in the FB position without being a gun.
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Not even Cooney, and he won a brownlow.

Going to be a race between him and Wundke to see who could cure cancer first.
 
Urmoe said:
Not even Cooney, and he won a brownlow.

Going to be a race between him and Wundke to see who could cure cancer first.
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Wundke will cure our forward issues, Grima to cure our Backline issue. How's that sound?
 
RoyalBlue said:
Vlad: "Okay, so we'll get the $1.2 million back, what do you want in return?"

Eugene: "A rookie list position for Nathan Grima."

Vlad: "Done!"
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You're forgetting that Vlad is the Great Negotiator.

Why, it was him (and him only) that secured that $780 million TV rights deal, which led to the doubling of his salary to $1.4 mil. After all, with his Great Negotiation skills, other leagues were banging down AFL House doors to get to him - just ask Chairman Fitzpatrick.

Given this, it is fair to assume that Vlad would have started off with the ambit claim of a pack of pretzels, and then 'compromised' at Grima. :thumbsu:
 
giantroo said:
Of course he's a gun Arden. No one makes the SANFL TEAM OF THE YEAR in the FB position without being a gun. The boy has travelled far and wide to get a go and if this is true, i wish him all the luck and hopefully in 09 or 010 he will be our leading FB in a premiership team.

This is the old article when he first did it:

0,,5913059,00.jpg
Tough break: Kangaroos rookie Nathan Grima rests at home in Evandale, Tasmania, after a season-ending knee reconstruction. Picture: Ross Marsden


Grima grew up at Evandale, home to a 1000 people and 15 minutes from Launceston.
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I am 1 of those 1000 people from evandale
he lived over my back fence once apon a time
 

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Past #17: Nathan Grima

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