AFL Player #19: Nick Hind

[Lore]

Contract Status: Out of contract 2024
My Boy Draft 2024: Pick 31, Rick Ross

 

[astrowizzle]

Id take hind hitting a target over Saad bombing blind any day.

 

[ghostdog]

Losing someone with Saad's attitude from the team is a plus as well.

If Saady looks back with regret at his decision to leave, I think that would be an acceptable outcome.

 

[ghostdog]

Id take hind hitting a target over Saad bombing blind any day.

Let's not revise history. Saady could hit targets and was one of our best kicks.

 

[Don Won]

Let's not revise history. Saady could hit targets and was one of our best kicks.

He was a capable kick, this issue was that he would often throw it on his boot at the end of a blistering run rather than try and pick out a target.

 

[ScrappyCoCo]

Racked them up in our intraclub. I would guess at 10 touches in the first term. The old give and go...just wanted the ball in his hands. I will be picking him in AFL Dreamteam and probably Supercoach.

 

[BIGBUDDA]

Underrating Saad a bit IMO, Hind has been fantastic, and given what we got for trading Saad we've come out miles ahead on the deal given Hind has pretty much replicated Saad's output and we got the first rounder. But their performances in 2022 were pretty similar, Hind got a bit more a ball, Saad a bit more defensive work.

Adam Saad and Nick Hind AFL Stats Comparison

Adam Saad and Nick Hind AFL Stats Comparison.

www.footywire.com

Yeah I hear ya. I Probably sounds a bit biased there but I think the difference for me is the kicking skills. Both run and carry very well and break the lines but I think Saad finds himself regularly booting the ball mostly long which isn’t always the best obviously for ball retainment. Hind is far more creative with ball in hand for me. Both neck and neck though at the moment but yeah in terms of the trade we win like you say

 

[fairbump_playon]

If Saady looks back with regret at his decision to leave, I think that would be an acceptable outcome.

His wage hasn’t decreased

That’s the only thing that would make him regret leaving

 

[ghostdog]

He was a capable kick, this issue was that he would often throw it on his boot at the end of a blistering run rather than try and pick out a target.

Sure, when our forwardline was much more dysfunctional. Part of the joke about Saad leaving us has been that he has found himself in a similar position at Carlton as what we were in. Saad had one of the best long deliveries going around when the option was on, and his lateral vision to find a short target is outstanding.

 

[ghostdog]

His wage hasn’t decreased

That’s the only thing that would make him regret leaving

Ugh. Sad but true. Ever the mercenary.

 

[I Remember Bluey]

‘Footy challenges me more than anything’: Hind bounces back with fresh perspective

Nick Hind was disappointed to miss Essendon’s elimination final last year after a quick trip to get chicken for lunch turned into a COVID-19 drama, but he’s not dwelling on it ahead of the new season.

www.theage.com.au

‘Footy challenges me more than anything’: Hind bounces back with fresh perspective​

Before Saturday night’s game against St Kilda, Essendon posted a clip on Instagram of Nick Hind

19

Nick Hind

Age

29

Ht

180cm

Wt

78kg

Pos.

D/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.7

3star

K

7.2

3star

HB

3.5

3star

M

2.0

2star

T

1.9

4star

MG

117.0

2star

D

9.5

2star

K

4.0

1star

HB

5.5

3star

M

2.0

2star

T

2.0

3star

MG

117.0

2star

D

10.2

3star

K

7.2

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.0

3star

T

2.2

4star

crouched behind the fence as Aaron Francis walked up the race with coffee in hand chatting to a teammate.
Francis jumped as Hind startled him when he leapt from nowhere while making a spooky noise. Hind laughed hysterically at the reaction while his teammates rolled their eyes, shook their heads and kept walking.
“I tend to be myself down there, and sometimes it can annoy a few boys,” Hind admitted.
“But I say we’ve got the best job in the world. [We’re] not digging holes. I love getting down [to the club] and having a bit of fun. It’s what we do it for at the end of the day.”




It’s the type of outlook common in players drafted after combining work and football, as Hind did before St Kilda drafted him from the Bombers’ VFL team at pick 54 in the 2018 national draft.
He worked as a plumber having played country football at Clunes, where his parents own the local pub, The National, then at East Point before former Essendon assistant and VFL coach Dan Jordan backed him to translate his pace in the country to the big smoke.
Hind, who won a Clunes best and fairest in 2014, just after he turned 20, wanted to see what level he could reach. He made his debut with the Saints in Townsville in round 13 after being a late call-up in, of all places, Shanghai when injuries saw him catch a late flight.
He then found himself an emergency for the seventh time. He, at least, flew business class for the first time.

After 21 games in two seasons as a crafty forward with the Saints, he was traded back to Essendon where he slotted in as a hard running defender who takes the game on having played the same role in the Bombers’ VFL team.

After 40 bounces in 22 games in 2021 he needed all that life experience to quickly find perspective and bounce back from missing the Bombers’ final in Tasmania last September after visiting Altona Gate shopping centre for two minutes to grab some chicken for lunch on a Saturday saw him unable to travel to the Apple Isle when the location was declared a tier-two COVID-19 site.

He would have been able to play in Victoria but not Tasmania, so he had to watch his teammates lose the elimination final against the Western Bulldogs after a second-half fade out.

“ It took me a bit to process,” Hind said.“It was a pretty tough 24-48 hours.”

The club was supportive and understanding, which helped, and soon enough he put his disappointment in perspective, aware that many people had suffered much more during 2020 and 2021.

“At the end of the day, everybody was doing it pretty tough down here,” Hind said. “It was about shifting my mindset to ‘it’s not the end of the world’, it was disappointing.
“I would have loved to have been down there [in Tasmania]. In AFL footy you can’t wallow for too long. You just have to move on and look forward to the challenge.
“Footy challenges me more than anything I have ever done. You are never comfortable. There is always a new challenge every day. I have been able to handle setbacks and work through them quite well.”
Such qualities are handy for anyone playing his role, breaking lines, attacking from defence, often making binary decisions with good or bad outcomes waiting rather than a middle ground.

Nearing the start of another season he is far from comfortable, but his mindset is right, and he remains light on his feet, an exciting player to watch as he accelerates through gaps only he can see with the poise of a jockey aiming a bolter towards a rails run.
“[Last year] was [a] good reward for myself and satisfaction that I could play at the level, it’s been a long time coming to be able to feel comfortable at the level and didn’t know if I was ever going to get there,” Hind said.
“I have always felt like I have a point to prove, and I am always on the edge a little bit.”
As are Hind’s teammates when the cheeky plumber is in the vicinity, looking for a laugh to keep the energy high and his teammates on their toes.

 

[Petrify]

Don't let the heat on Hep/Redman distract you from how bad Hind has been this year.

 

[The Prosecutor]

Horribly out of form.

 

[Punter88]

playing like the St Kilda version of him

 

[The Devils Advocate]

That BBQ chicken would have been better tonight.

 

[quotemokc]

Kept Pickett to 6 disposals.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Not going to well. Less mistakes please else he's gone also.

 

[ghostdog]

Kept Pickett to 6 disposals.

...which is great, but he also seems to have lost his capacity to run and carry, or he has been instructed not to.

 

[quotemokc]

...which is great, but he also seems to have lost his capacity to run and carry, or he has been instructed not to.

We have Essington'd him, we turn fast players in to plodders.

 

[naraku]

Horribly out of form.

Like half of our squad.

 

[JT_the_Man]

Honestly thought tonight was his best game of the year, but that isn’t really saying much.

 

[ghostdog]

We have Essington'd him, we turn fast players in to plodders.

I'm going to side with form slump. I notice it's commensurate with Redman though, and even Ridley has had some dodgy moments, so...

 

[ant555]

...which is great, but he also seems to have lost his capacity to run and carry, or he has been instructed not to.

Simple thing is when you turn the footy over so much you have to defend more and he has had to defend a lot. Can not run one way and defend hard as well.
Another issue is he is the lone pace off half back so sides can pressure him as the only one who is going to do it.

 

[ghostdog]

Simple thing is when you turn the footy over so much you have to defend more and he has had to defend a lot. Can not run one way and defend hard as well.
Another issue is he is the lone pace off half back so sides can pressure him as the only one who is going to do it.

...and we've turned it over so much. He still has had his chances to run and simply not taken them though. Last year he would run but he'd defend up the ground if the ball was turned over. Not seeing that so much these three rounds, although Redman not running off hb probably isn't doing him any favours either, so I take your point there.

 

[eth-dog]

Honestly, despite the lack of offensive form, love that he went to Pickett and stopped him. A few weeks of that will build some confidence and maybe we'll see some of those electric runs on ANZAC Day.

Pretty selfless. Love him.

 

[ant555]

Sides have been pretty hot on almost tagging him at stages so he can not run the footy.