AFL RECORD THE EV0LUTION OF TOBY NANKERVIS
NOT SATISFIED YET: Nankervis says the Tigers’ “next flag” will be his favourite one.
u FACT FILE
TOBY NANKERVIS
Born: August 12, 1994 Recruited from: Georgetown (Tas)/ North Launceston (Tas)/Sydney Debut: Round 14, 2015, v Port Adelaide Height: 199cm Weight: 102kg Games: 101 (Syd 12, Rich 89) Goals: 31 (Syd 3, Rich 28) Honours: premiership sides 2017, 2019, 2020; co-captain since 2022. Brownlow Medal: career votes 9. He singled out high performance manager Peter Burge for his work. Nankervis played in the 2017, 2019 and 2020 Tiger premiership teams. Forget asking him to nominate a favourite because, as he said, “They’re great mementos, but as a group we’re always looking forward to winning another one. “If you look back, you can get complacent and get stuck, so I always look forward. The next flag will be the best one.” But he does get the significance of the breakthrough 2017 title. Every premiership Tiger from that year has their story and his was arriving at the club merely hoping to play more senior football than he had at the Swans. “I started to string some games together and the team gathered some momentum towards the back end of the year,” he said. “Dimma used to say, ‘Why not us?’ And I used to think, ‘Why not me? Why can’t I be an AFL premiership player?’
“I wanted to make an impact on the finals series, but the emotion at the end was probably relief. They are bloody hard to win.” Only 27, Nankervis still has plenty of football ahead of him at Richmond. But the tail end of his career maybe, just maybe, will coincide with the arrival of a standalone Tasmanian AFL team. Could he one day go back to where it all started, and where Gale first noticed him, and play for Tasmania? “I’m not too sure,” he said. “I’m just getting through each week here, but I’m passionate about Tassie as a state. “It’s home for me, so fingers crossed they get a team down there, and they’ll get enormous support. “I’d be keen to see it and I’ll be a massive supporter once they do.”
@hashbrowne
NANK THE TANK: At 27, Nankervis still has plenty of football ahead of him.
14 AFL RECORD
tIgER TOUGH u The Tigers left it until relatively
late into the pre-season before announcing Toby Nankervis and Dylan Grimes as their co-captains. But there has been no shortage of issues to keep the pair busy, in addition to getting themselves ready to play. The first was the Sydney Stack cliff-jumping episode that drew headlines and some outrage from the usual quarters. “There are a lot of people who are keen to drive the standards at the footy club and really hold each other to account and we have to have conversations along the way,” Nankervis said.
“But that was not one of them because I think that one was a non-event really, and a bit of a beat-up, but there will be times for tough conversations.” And then there is superstar Dustin Martin (above), who has missed the past two matches to deal with personal issues. Perhaps because it is Martin, Nankervis hasn’t felt the need to be in constant contact. The superstar is being given all the time and all the privacy he needs from his teammates. “Dustin Martin the person, is more important,” he said. “All he needs to know is that he has our support to take some time away and to heal.”
aflrecord.com.au
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