Player Watch Welcome to Hawthorn - Conor Nash. Extends to 2029!

[Judd2Sewell]

He'd have to be firmly in consideration for the most improved player league-wide.

 

[CHUBBSS]

The next string to his bow is pushing forward for a goal a game, such a remarkable comment about him being the captain in every one of his junior clubs and said I’ll head over to aus to give footy a go.

Entering his prime in the next few years is going to unreal to watch

 

[MasterSamurai]

Yep, been brilliant, absolutely didn't see this coming, a genuine big inside mid but, only 1 goal for the season, would love for him to be a 10-15 goal mid for the future.

 

[Rushed_Behind]

In the words of choco Williams. “Rushed_Behind! You were wrong

 

[Alite]

As a wing in VFL: Nash was lost, as a fwd: was lost, as a mid: had a simple task = win his position! And he did. It took time for Nash to properly learn the task, took more time to get good at it. Now he is very good at it and expanding on what he knows and what he can do.

Connor Nash is far from the finished product. And that is scary for oppositions. If he adds marking into his repertoire, he will be truely feared as an AFL player.

Irrespective of what he could become, what he is now is a cooler and play off player that is the best in the business.

The guy has put his heart and sole (soul ) into a sport outside of his upbringing and was close to being cut.

He deserves every plaudit that comes his way.

 

[tommyk72]

As a wing in VFL: Nash was lost, as a fwd: was lost, as a mid: had a simple task = win his position! And he did. It took time for Nash to properly learn the task, took more time to get good at it. Now he is very good at it and expanding on what he knows and what he can do.

Connor Nash is far from the finished product. And that is scary for oppositions. If he adds marking into his repertoire, he will be truely feared as an AFL player.

Irrespective of what he could become, what he is now is a cooler and play off player that is the best in the business.

The guy has put his heart and sole into a sport outside of his upbringing and was close to being cut.

He deserves every plaudit that comes his way.

Surely we can afford to buy him a new pair of shoes!?

 

[Alite]

Surely we can afford to buy him a new pair of shoes!?

In the words of a fish and chip person: Please explain!… a New pair of Shoes?

 

[Alite]

Yep, been brilliant, absolutely didn't see this coming, a genuine big inside mid but, only 1 goal for the season, would love for him to be a 10-15 goal mid for the future.

I see where you are coming from in his goal kicking. Connor has been awful in his set shots. But IF he continues his rise in ability to play the game he will figure that out. His field kicking is very good. He went at 76%DE last game (for a mid that is great) though I understand that Handballs are a part of DE and that in that game his field kicking when doing the switch is much more forgiving than accurate kicking at goal.

I want to see Nash take a few marks in the fwd line. He is taller than every other mid in the comp. And occasionally he uses his height to take a mark. When it come to kicking for goal, the straight on approach has not worked for him. If he is within 35m, the stand rule will let him run right and kick around the corner and be confident. All good. Otherwise, palm off the ball to a better kick in the team.

Nash has huge potential. His tackles are perfect and bone crunching. For a guy his height, he never seems to give away a free kick. I love his ability to be truely scary in the tackle, and yet almost always make it fair.

A question for the numbers guys: has any player at, or above Conor Nash’s height laid more legal tackles that him.

 

[Sixpence]

The improvement from Nash, Day and Worpel, in particular, has been amazing to watch this year!

 

[WWSD]

Nash has now had 20+ disposals in his last nine games.

Last nine games; 31,28,26,26,27,30,27,21,25

2022 - 2023
15.5 Disposals 23.5
72.4% Disposal Efficiency 75.5%
2.3 Marks 2.6
4.1 Tackles 5.5
3 Clearances 4

 

[Roger Rogerson]

Nash has now had 20+ disposals in his last nine games.

Last nine games; 31,28,26,26,27,30,27,21,25

2022 - 2023
15.5 Disposals 23.5
72.4% Disposal Efficiency 75.5%
2.3 Marks 2.6
4.1 Tackles 5.5
3 Clearances 4

Cue Dominic03 "elite"

 

[Dewyyyyy]

Cue Dominic03 "elite"

Elite x

 

[threesixpio]

As a wing in VFL: Nash was lost, as a fwd: was lost, as a mid: had a simple task = win his position! And he did. It took time for Nash to properly learn the task, took more time to get good at it. Now he is very good at it and expanding on what he knows and what he can do.

Connor Nash is far from the finished product. And that is scary for oppositions. If he adds marking into his repertoire, he will be truely feared as an AFL player.

Irrespective of what he could become, what he is now is a cooler and play off player that is the best in the business.

The guy has put his heart and sole into a sport outside of his upbringing and was close to being cut.

He deserves every plaudit that comes his way.

His sole is definitely involved every time he runs or goes for a kick

 

[threesixpio]

Surely we can afford to buy him a new pair of shoes!?

Ahhh too late

 

[Tassie Cryptik]

Ali v Frasier
Holyfield v Tyson
Nash v Cripps.

 

[Brant]

Ali v Frasier
Holyfield v Tyson
Nash v Cripps.

I'm not getting the analogy.

 

[SSSSSS]

I'm not getting the analogy.

All six are African American heavyweights.

 

[Tassie Cryptik]

Is that his first 30 possession game?
We're going to need a bigger bandwagon.

 

[arupist]

His sole is definitely involved every time he runs or goes for a kick

Of course. Here I was thinking about his pet fish. But what you said makes more sense.

 

[Clubber79]

Delighted to see Conor doing so well and it raises an interesting question.
The midfield role in AFL is quite a bit different to the midfield role in gaelic games, which Conor would have grown up playing.
In gaelic football, a lot of our elite level midfielders (they play as a pair) would be around 195cm, but they also need serious speed & endurance.
It's a bit like the ruck role combined with ruck rover, centre etc. as they have to contest kick-outs and restarts in the air and also link play, attack/defend when the ball is in hand, and generally get up and down the field.
In the AFL, I'm guessing any new recruit of that height would more than likely be considered as a key position prospect, first & foremost.

I know Conor took the scenic route before he ended up in midfield but maybe there's a lesson there for other teams.
In particular, I'm thinking of someone like Brendan Murphy years ago who spent a couple of years with the Swans.
Gaelic football midfielder, 197cm and I think he won the first 2K time trial he took part in, however he played mostly as a key position defender/forward and eventually came home after rejecting a new contract.
Our tall guys have to cover a lot of ground, helping out in defence & attack, so a lot of them should have the tank for midfield.
Maybe Conor could be a trailblazer in this regard, and more Irish recruits will find their way into the middle.

 

[KermitJagger]

Delighted to see Conor doing so well and it raises an interesting question.
The midfield role in AFL is quite a bit different to the midfield role in gaelic games, which Conor would have grown up playing.
In gaelic football, a lot of our elite level midfielders (they play as a pair) would be around 195cm, but they also need serious speed & endurance.
It's a bit like the ruck role combined with ruck rover, centre etc. as they have to contest kick-outs and restarts in the air and also link play, attack/defend when the ball is in hand, and generally get up and down the field.
In the AFL, I'm guessing any new recruit of that height would more than likely be considered as a key position prospect, first & foremost.

I know Conor took the scenic route before he ended up in midfield but maybe there's a lesson there for other teams.
In particular, I'm thinking of someone like Brendan Murphy years ago who spent a couple of years with the Swans.
Gaelic football midfielder, 197cm and I think he won the first 2K time trial he took part in, however he played mostly as a key position defender/forward and eventually came home after rejecting a new contract.
Our tall guys have to cover a lot of ground, helping out in defence & attack, so a lot of them should have the tank for midfield.
Maybe Conor could be a trailblazer in this regard, and more Irish recruits will find their way into the middle.

Honestly I think his Rugby playing has more crossover to the midfield in the AFL. Both his tackling and his ability to get the ball out quickly by hand are exemplary traits, and rugby demands a both good peripheral vision and good tackling technique.

 

[Clubber79]

Tackling ability comes from rugby yes, everything else is gaelic football.
I don't know how familiar people here are with the game, but a typical phase of play could involve a series of quick linking hand passes through the middle, a scramble for possession on the ground, or the ball 'breaks' from an aerial contest and a midfielder has to win a contested possession and offload it to a runner or back to a defender who can set up the play.
Gaelic football, like aussie rules, is a 360 degree game insofar as you can be tackled from any direction, as opposed to rugby where much of the play happens in front of you.

 

[KermitJagger]

Tackling ability comes from rugby yes, everything else is gaelic football.
I don't know how familiar people here are with the game, but a typical phase of play could involve a series of quick linking hand passes through the middle, a scramble for possession on the ground, or the ball 'breaks' from an aerial contest and a midfielder has to win a contested possession and offload it to a runner or back to a defender who can set up the play.
Gaelic football, like aussie rules, is a 360 degree game insofar as you can be tackled from any direction, as opposed to rugby where much of the play happens in front of you.

I watched a bit of it a little while ago, but not much recently. The reason I say it feels like it comes more from Rugby is because his handballing normally follows the pattern of a rugby player. Always looking for the person in a position to take more ground.

Where someone like Jai, for example, will pull off a looping handball to a person in front of him, Nash will look back and to the side for someone clear and in better position to run. Nasher was also much more of a rugby boy than a Gaelic boy too which is why I think the rugby bleeds through a bit more, though he definitely did both.

 

[Tassie Cryptik]

Tackling ability comes from rugby yes, everything else is gaelic football.
I don't know how familiar people here are with the game, but a typical phase of play could involve a series of quick linking hand passes through the middle, a scramble for possession on the ground, or the ball 'breaks' from an aerial contest and a midfielder has to win a contested possession and offload it to a runner or back to a defender who can set up the play.
Gaelic football, like aussie rules, is a 360 degree game insofar as you can be tackled from any direction, as opposed to rugby where much of the play happens in front of you.

It's his rugby background

 

[Sixpence]

Is that his first 30 possession game?
We're going to need a bigger bandwagon.

Nope, his third. It is his highest though (32), previous two being 31 and 30.

It's the 10th time he's got over 25, all this season.

Definitely been a break out year.