AFL
4 months ago
Why Nash was never leaving Hawks despite confirming offers from Victorian rivals
By Lachlan Geleit
Hawthorn midfielder Conor Nash turned his back on free agency this week, inking a new five-year deal with Hawthorn until the end of the 2029 season.
It’s been a long road to get to this point for the 26-year-old Irishman, who played just 29 games from 2018 to 2021 after crossing over from Gaelic football as a Category B rookie.
After a breakout campaign in 2023 where he averaged 24 disposals across 23 games that he’s backed up in 2024 as the Hawks begin to climb the ladder, the ball was finally in Nash’s court when it came to negotiating his future from both a financial and length of deal perspective.
He thanked his manager Peter Lenton from Kapital Sports Group for keeping him level throughout a hectic decision-making process.
“It was a bit hectic,” Nash told SEN Breakfast.
“It's I suppose the first time in my career that it's been positive (with offers) in terms of negotiating contracts.
“So it was certainly very new but my manager and Pete Lenton did a great job.
“We set some ground rules earlier in the year, things like he wouldn't ring me after a Wednesday (about offers). It was just simple things like that made it a lot easier.”
As reported by Tom Morris on SEN Crunch Time, the unrestricted free agent had offers of six years from rival clubs and while Nash wouldn’t confirm which club pushed the hardest to lure him away from Waverley Park, he did admit that there was significant offers sent his way.
The Irishman simply couldn’t see himself leaving the club that’s turned him into an AFL footballer from such a different background.
“I won't confirm that (what clubs), but there was significant interest from a couple of other clubs here in Melbourne,” Nash said.
“But I suppose to try and pry someone like myself out of a club that I've been rooted to for a long time now - you’re obviously going to have to come over with a good offer.
“But, for me, it was always just too hard of a decision to leave the club that I've really been a part of for the best part of 10 years now.”
Nash’s re-signing comes with the Hawks winning eighth of their last nine games as they now sit outside of the top eight on percentage alone.
The midfielder thinks that confidence, pressure and predictability have been the pillars behind the club’s recent rise.
“As infectious as it is the other way when you're not winning and the boys are low on confidence, it’s just as infectious the other way when we had a couple of wins and were able to play some good football together,” Nash said.
“It's all confidence really with our group, I think a lot of people can see that and we've just been able to build on it.
“But I think if you go back to the technicality of the game, it's been around our pressure and being predictable to each other.
“They're probably the two things that have held us in good stead the last two months.”
Nash and the Hawks will continue their finals push when they face GWS at Manuka Oval on Sunday afternoon.
