Century up for Oz-some adventure

MEATH'S CONOR NASH IS ALL SET TO RUN OUT FOR THE 100TH TIME WITH THE HAWKS

- PAT NOLAN

THERE is a crossroads in the career of every Irish AFL recruit, and for Conor Nash it came in 2021.

It was almost five years since the Meath man agreed to join Hawthorn and three since his AFL debut.

Having made five appearances in the 2018 season, he jumped to 14 in 2019 but plummeted to two in 2020, the Covid-interrupted campaign.

By the end of that year he needed a shoulder operation and at the outset of the 2021 season he was playing for the second team.

Coach by Sam Mitchell recognised Nash needed a change of direction if his career was to catch fire. So he suggested moving him from half-forward into midfield.

"I said, 'Well, I'm going to have to give that a shot' and within the first few games, two games, in midfield I was like, 'Yep, I much prefer this, this suits me'," Nash explains.

"It was a new lease of life and that's what's kept me here since, really."

He broke back into the first team that year, at the end of which Mitchell took over as first team coach, and has been ever-present over the past three seasons

Last Friday's opener against Sydney Swans took him to 99 appearances. He'll hit the century against Essendon at the MCG tomorrow.