Small is beautiful
Martin Blake | May 19, 2009
RICHMOND, and league football, almost missed Robin Nahas. Which is a story in itself.
When the Tigers changed plans at the last minute and selected Ben Cousins with its only pick in the December pre-season draft, it handed a lifeline to Cousins that had previously been earmarked for Nahas, a VFL star with Port Melbourne for the previous three seasons. A fine junior player with Oakleigh in his teens, he had been overlooked by recruiters because of his miniature size.
Nahas had spent the 2008 season changing his game to fit the modern AFL style. He had kicked 50 goals as a small forward for the Borough and, more to the point, he had developed a ferocious tackling style that created goals for teammates as Port went to the grand final. He was also best afield for Victoria in an interstate game.
But at the end of all that, he had just a morsel. Richmond took him with pick eight in the rookie draft on the same day the Tigers selected Cousins, and still, the boy from Chadstone would have to wait.
Richmond tried to get a medical exemption to rookie-list Graham Polak so that it could elevate Nahas to the primary list, but the AFL would not allow it. Then, a breakthrough of sorts. Former skipper Kane Johnson went down with an injury, Nahas was elevated, and in just his sixth senior game against Port Adelaide last Sunday he booted five goals. The fifth of those, inside the last minute, came from a tumbling over-the-shoulder snap that put the Tigers in front and should have been the matchwinner; Warren Tredrea had other ideas.
But clearly Nahas can play, which provides another example of how the orthodoxy about small men in AFL football is merely that. Nahas, 21, is just 176 centimetres and a spindly 64 kilograms (four kilos, incidentally, heavier than when he arrived at Punt Road), against a league average of 188 centimetres. Nahas would need a trampoline to ruck against Aaron Sandilands, but he tackles like Tony Liberatore and knows where the goals are.
Gary Ayres, who coached him at Port Melbourne, believes it is more than a good footy story. He believes that too many AFL recruiters are missing diamonds such as Nahas because they look at their size first.
"People (recruiters) were ringing and there was always one doubt, and that was his size," said Ayres yesterday. "The philosophy for us was: it didn't matter, because he got himself into a good form and fitness line. It was a matter of him getting a chance and Richmond gave him that chance. It's no surprise to me he's doing what he's doing."
Ayres had Nahas for a year, and was struck by the player's drive to get better. When they first met at the end of 2007, they had a heart-to-heart where they tossed around ways that he could make himself an AFL player, and a plan was hatched to make him into an Eddie Betts/Alwyn Davey type small forward who would apply tackling pressure. "Defence has to start at full-forward, really," said Ayres. "You get more opportunities to score, it buys time for your defenders so they can have a break. From a defender's point of view, you feel that someone's at you every time you get the ball. Robin's excellent in that area."
Port Melbourne moved him to the goal square, where he flourished. "Robin was very good at getting himself front-and-square and turning players inside out, accelerating away from opposition players. He was just a smart player and his finishing became very, very good."
Ayres had to do some hard work with the recruiters. He believes they spent too much time thinking about his size. "I saw him every week as not being too small, but a lot of (other) people would only see bits and pieces of him. It's easy to identify something now that is supposedly a hindrance. But the great thing about our game is you can be all shapes and sizes, provided you've got footy smarts, you know the game, you get yourself fit."
Actually, it's been a good year for rookies from the VFL. Liam Picken is tagging with uncommon courage for Western Bulldogs, and Zac Dawson his holding down full-back for St Kilda. Ayres believes that with new clubs entering the AFL from Gold Coast and Sydney, the recruiters ought to take some more notice of Victoria's top competition.
"It would be very silly if they don't take a bigger interest in the VFL. You're talking about body-size, you're talking about development and the size of the pool you have. It's really disheartening for the VFL that not many players were looked at last year. That's a shame."
As for Nahas, the next challenge is extra attention. Ayres was encouraged to see that he returned to Port Melbourne several times this season to watch his former teammates. "It's a great story and now he's got an opportunity to fulfil his dream."
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