Move from Sydney Swans to Richmond Tigers a winner for Toby Nankervis

September 30, 2017

When Toby Nankervis left Sydney last year, winning a premiership was not on his mind. The Tasmanian big man had been craving opportunities at senior level but they were scarce at the Swans.

On grand final day last year, he was in the stands watching his teammates play the fall guys in the Western Bulldogs’ fairytale success. This time, he was a central character in Richmond’s feel-good story.

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Tigers express joy; in expletives

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Nankervis had played 12 games in three years at the Swans, which showed they believed he was worth investing in for the future. But why wait and be a project player when you believe you can be a man for now?

Had Nankervis stayed in the red and the white, it’s unlikely he would have added too many more games to that tally.

He was the fourth in line last year, getting games only when Kurt Tippett, Callum Sinclair and Sam Naismith were unavailable. Of the younger brigade, Naismith was the big man the Swans had earmarked for the future.

Nankervis was dumped twice late last year. On both occasions he made way for Tippett. His love for the game was waning, so too his faith in his own ability. He was “down and out”.

“When I got dropped before the last game I really thought ‘am I good enough?’. I played in the semi-final and played OK, missed out on the prelim which hurt and missed out the grand final,” Nankervis said in the Richmond rooms on Saturday night with a premiership medal around his neck.

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“There’s time after that you think: ‘F***, I may never get to play in a grand final even though I know I’m good enough to play AFL.’ Was it worth going around again, maybe?”

So, with heavy heart, Nankervis left. He remains close to his former teammates. Swans coach John Longmire was one of the first to text through his congratulations to his former charge after the game.

“We didn’t leave on bad terms at all. I’ve got so many of my best mates there, so many relationships. I’ll catch up with them at some stage,” Nankervis said.

There were no promises of senior games at Punt Road but Nankervis knew games would come if he worked hard. Even then, he needed luck, which came in the form of a back injury to Shaun Hampson, who was the Tigers’ preferred ruckman last year.

“There’s no promises in football, ‘Dimma’ [Damien Hardwick] told me that straight away: ‘I can’t guarantee you a game but I like the way you go about it,’ ” Nankervis said. “‘If you come here and work hard there’s an opportunity for you.’ I worked my arse off over the preseason, I was lucky enough to play well in the JLT [preseason series] and played round one, which was massive for me.”

Many pundits had believed Nankervis’ position was an area the Crows, through Sam Jacobs, would exploit. Apart from a silver service hit-out that set up a goal in the first quarter, Nankervis more than held his own.

With 18 possessions to Jacobs’ 13, some would say Nankervis won the duel – even if the hit-outs went 45-28 to his opponent’s way.

“He’s going to get some hit-outs, ‘Sauce’ – he’s pretty tall and strong – it was how he gets his hit-outs,” Nankervis said.

“I wanted to go out there and make him work hard for his hit-outs because I knew I had the advantage on the ground.”

Nankervis paid tribute to Richmond stalwart Ivan Maric, who had been the club’s long-time first-choice in the ruck up until last year, for his selflessness. He took Nankervis under his wing, to the detriment of his own game but for the betterment of the team.

“I can’t speak highly enough of Ivan. He’s the best person I’ve met in football,” Nankervis said.

“He goes out of his way to help me, day one when I got here he put his arm around me and said: ‘Welcome, mate. If you need anything let me know.’ He hasn’t changed in that 12 months, there’s no doubt I wouldn’t be here without him.”

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