I do remember my first kick. It was on my left and it went out of bounds on the full and almost hit one of the trainers in the head. It was just before half time too so it wasn’t the best start.
Selling candy is one of those things I sort of picked up playing touch football and a bit of rugby throughout my school years. I was never overly blessed with pace so I had to throw it out there every now and again and luckily a lot of guys have fallen for it.
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I didn’t go into the draft expecting to go to Sydney and I was certainly pretty rapt to go to St Kilda. I wasn’t offended that the Swans took Ryan Fitzgerald, Nic Fosdike and Jude Bolton before me in the draft. In fact I think my mum was more offended than anyone! She would have loved to have me stay in Sydney. All three of those guys were great players in their own right and I think sometimes with younger guys, we were in the Swans backyard and maybe they saw too much of us? Maybe they picked up the things we didn’t do so well as opposed to the things we do well. I guess I knew maybe halfway through the year, Stevie Wright was my coach, and I played a reserves game for the Swans. He sort of said “Don’t get your hopes up. There are 15 other teams out there and you’re a good chance to go to any one of those.I only heard about the story [of trading me for Jude Bolton] about two weeks ago when Timmy Watson got on the radio and said that. I played against Jude at Under 18 level and we saw what a great career he had, so it probably would have been a win/win for both clubs.
I still love the game more than ever. It certainly has changed a lot but the passion for me is still there for football. The game has sped up a lot and it’s still really tough. There is a lot of talk about the state of the game, but I think it’s in good condition and it will sort itself out. I think there is a lot scrutiny and media talk nowadays compared to when I first started. It has certainly evolved but I think it’s still a great game.
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One of my best mates was Steven Baker and he was a renowned tagger. I think they are a part of the game but you do need to protect the ball player. The only thing that I don’t like, I don’t get tagged anymore, is when they turn their back on the play and just face you. Rooey tells me to stop whinging because he gets that every week. Taggers are a part of the game and they always have been. There is still a place for them.Initially it was disappointing to see Dal Santo, Goddard and McEvoy leave because I’d played a lot of footy with those guys. But then again, I understand where the club was at and in football, players, coaches and staff move on. The club has gone down a certain path with trying to get in draft picks and the situation we are in now reminds me of when I first got to the club. It’s all part of the process and whilst it’s not enjoyable playing against those guys, I’m really thankful that I got to play a lot of footy with them.
Nick Dal Santo and Hayes played against each other for the first and only time in round 17 this year.
It was certainly disappointing at the time not being able to hold that cup up. For a long period of time that was my goal in football, to be able to do that and achieve that with my teammates. But as I have said in the past, I don’t have any regrets and I don’t think those teams could have done anymore to try and get over the line. I feel a sense of real pride in how we went about it, but at the end of the day it’s disappointing not to get it because I know how much it would have meant to all the players and staff and our fans. I do know that when we do win that premiership, I will be in the stands and I will have a big smile on my face.
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I think when I look back over my career, when I got to the club, we weren’t doing so well. We had a few coach changes early in my career and we got a really good group of young players together and I felt like we really stood for something over a long period of time. When you look back, the end result is a premiership and unfortunately we didn’t get that. For a club that has been starved of success, I still think we had quite a successful era - that I am really proud of.
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I probably need a couple more years just to see how free agency pans out. What it does do is give the players a few more options and more freedom, because for a long time the clubs held all the power. In that sense, I think it’s a good thing for the players to have the opportunity to get to another club. I think in the long term of things, I need a couple more years to see how it pans out. We’ve lost a couple of players but we’ve also gained some, so I think we’ve won and lost out of free agency.
I’m not 100 per cent sure [whether I will coach anywhere next year]. I initially said that I wanted to get the decision out of the way and then play the last few games and in that time, make a decision on my future. I’ve done some coaching courses and things like that, but whether that will be the next part of my career – I’m still not sure.
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Rhys Stanley has certainly come under a fair amount of scrutiny, but the guy has only played just over 50 games. I think he’s only about 23. We certainly haven’t seen the best of Rhys but he’s probably indicative of where we are as a team. We’ve been a little bit up and down and we are looking for everyone to be a little bit more consistent. His best footy is ahead of him and I’d like to see him stay at the club for another 10 years because I think he’s going to be a fantastic player.
I haven’t suggested to Luke Dunstan that he take on the number seven guernsey. That is something we will speak about over the next few weeks. He’s certainly a guy I’ve worked really closely with and I love the way he goes about it. I could see him fitting very nicely in to it but we haven’t made a decision on that yet.
