Author Topic: Toby Nankervis [merged]  (Read 228054 times)

Offline one-eyed

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #495 on: September 20, 2018, 01:48:56 PM »
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has backed Tigers premiership ruckman Toby Nankervis to yet again rise to the occasion, when he takes on star Collingwood counterpart Brodie Grundy in Friday night’s preliminary final blockbuster at the MCG.

“He has a big job every week, Toby,” Hardwick said.

“He’s an incredible player.

“Every time we ask more of him, he delivers. That’s the sort of player he is.

“He always comes back well after a spell.

“He’s been shouldering the ruck load all year and we’re really confident that he’ll have a good performance.

“He’s going up against, I feel, the best ruckman in the game in Brodie Grundy, but our guy’s not far behind him, I can guarantee you.

“Our blokes love playing with him, and he’ll certainly lead from the front.”

http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/2018-09-20/hardwick-to-bank-on-nank

Offline mightytiges

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #496 on: September 20, 2018, 05:54:10 PM »
If Nank can neutralise or beat get the better of Grundy like he did to Sam Jacobs in the Granny last year then it will go a long way to us winning. Last year our midfield really stepped up winning the contested footy in the finals.
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Online georgies31

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #497 on: September 20, 2018, 06:30:08 PM »
If Nank can neutralise or beat get the better of Grundy like he did to Sam Jacobs in the Granny last year then it will go a long way to us winning. Last year our midfield really stepped up winning the contested footy in the finals.

Agree with this super important tomorrow.Against the hawks we won alot of the contested footy tho.

Offline one-eyed

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #498 on: September 20, 2018, 11:58:35 PM »
Toby Nankervis doesn’t like the spotlight but his past and present teammates reveal the real ‘Nank’

GLENN McFARLANE,
Herald Sun
September 21, 2018


IT’S the Toby Nankervis shuffle ... and it happens after every Richmond win.

Just seconds after the Tigers belt out another stirring rendition of the theme song, Nankervis is invariably the first player to exit the circle, shuffling past the backslappers and the awaiting media, seeking the sanctuary of the players-only section of the changerooms.

It’s there that he feels most ease. Without the glare of the football world on him, with the teammates who trust and admire him.

“He doesn’t hang around,” one insider observed this week when talking about Richmond’s first premiership ruckman since the combative Mark Lee and whom legendary coach Mick Malthouse insists is the club’s most important player in pursuit of back-to-back flags.

Heaven help you, if you get in his way, either there, or in the heat of battle. Just ask BT.

‘Roaming Brian’ Taylor found that out to his detriment after a game against St Kilda this year, when Nankervis brushed him off with his own version of the ‘Don’t Argue’ and shot off a death stare that Julie Bishop would have been happy with.

It was the awkward footy TV moment of the year and those who know him best say that it was “classic Nank”.

The 24-year-old loves the game with passion, but he hates the searing off-field spotlight that it brings even more.

“I couldn’t stop laughing,” former Swans teammate Ted Richards said of his BT moment. “Toby likes to keep to himself, and that’s fair enough.”

His former North Launceston coach and now Brisbane Lions development coach Zane Littlejohn said the humorous aside with Taylor wasn’t Nankervis being rude, it was more about him wanting to maintain that low-key approach that the kid from George Town on the Tamar River has always carried with him.

Nankervis is arguably as important as any of the 88 players who will represent the four preliminary final clubs this weekend - for the role he plays.

But he remains somewhat of an enigma to all but his teammates and close friends. That’s because he doesn’t feel the need to tell his story. His football does it for him.

“He doesn’t care about that sort of stuff (the media),” former teammate and now ruck coach Ivan Maric said of Nankervis.

“When BT tried to interview him, he just wasn’t ready for it. He doesn’t want the spotlight on him. He cares about the team and doesn’t want to talk about himself.”

In an age of social media oversharing and where some players clamber like moths to the spotlight, the quietly-spoken yet fiercely determined Nankervis couldn’t think of anything worse.

Yes, he has an Instagram account, but he has played more AFL games (58 ) than he has posts (30).

Funnily enough, a parody account - Nank_memes - which is run by Richmond devotees, has almost as many followers as the man himself.

Many of those following the mock account include some of his former Sydney teammates, who still have affection for the ruckman who managed only 12 games with the club after being drafted in 2013.

He was an emergency for the Swans in the 2016 Grand Final, but was promised a greater opportunity at Punt Rd.

“Half the Sydney boys follow it,” Richards said of the account.

Ask anyone about Nankervis - he politely declined to take part in this story - and they will instantly refer to the difference between the man and the footballer.

Off the field, he prefers to keep an intensely low profile, mixing with his teammates, and spending time with his family - father Kingsley, mother, Sharon and brother, Corey, who moved to Melbourne when he was traded from Sydney.

He is a member of Brunswick Bowling Club, and loves nothing better than getting out on the rink in the off-season with teammates such as Anthony Miles, Reece Conca and Sam Lloyd

In keeping with his industrious nature, he is an apprentice carpenter, spending his day off each week plying what he hopes will be his future trade.

He uses words only sparingly, even the field, but that changes when he gets a few drinks in him and he has built a reputation of being the life of any ‘Mad Monday’ party.

“Away from the field he’s pretty quiet but as soon as you get some beers into him he pipes up a fair bit. But he’s awesome, a legend,” teammate Nick Vlastuin said.

Richards agrees: “I would say he was always one of the best performers on Mad Monday, he was always fantastic entertainment when he had a few drinks. He’s a great bloke and he loves being a part of the team.”

On the field, Nankervis is as hard as granite, resilient (he has missed two games in his two seasons at Richmond), and ferocious in the contest - even at training sometimes. He thrives on shouldering most of the ruck burden.

Vlastuin sensed that from the first training camp the ruckman went on as a Tiger in early 2017, not long after he opted to leave the Swans.

.“On the field you don’t want to get tackled by him because he’s an absolute beast and tackles to hurt,” Vlastuin told the Herald Sun.

“I remember his first training (session) up at Maroochydore when we first got him. He lined ‘Cotch’ (captain Trent Cotchin) up and just speared him. Everyone was like, ‘F---, do we go in and back up Cotch, or do we whack Nank or what?’”

It was on that same trip that Maric - not dissimilar in his own desire to keep a low profile, and with the same combative nature that made him a Tigers’ cult figure too - realised the bargain the Tigers had claimed in him.

“I could tell immediately that he had a competitive streak,” Maric said.

“Up at Maroochydore, there was a fair bit of pushing and shoving. It was hard and physical. I loved it, and I know he did too. The mutual respect just grew.”

White line fever is at the forefront of everyone’s assessment of Nankervis.

“I think it is an important quality (to have some mongrel),” Maric said.

“Where does that come from? Does it come from your family background, or your experiences, or maybe both?

“I know Toby’s parents are very hard-working people. Then, there was the pain of not being selected for a number of years at Sydney.

“All of that probably added up to the way he plays the game. He’s got that bit of mongrel and it helps.”

In Konrad Marshall’s book, Yellow and Black, it details a moment during a Round 5 game last year when general manager of football and former Tigers’ hard man Neil Balme was taken by one of Nankervis’ crunching pieces of play, saying: ‘Gee, he goes this boy.”

Vlastuin added: “When he does lay someone out, it does lift the whole team. He does give away a few free kicks but we don’t mind that because he’s putting up a contest every time.”

Littlejohn coached Toby and his brother Corey, and noted they were quiet off the field, but had “white line fever” on the ground.

“I just remember one game we played against South Launceston, it was absolutely bucketing down with rain. It wasn’t a big man’s day, but I remember Toby grabbing the game by the scuff of the neck, which was pretty amazing for a young man,” said Littlejohn

“It’s funny, he has that white line fever, but as soon he crosses the white line again, he goes back to being the quiet Tasmanian again.”

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/richmond/toby-nankervis-doesnt-like-the-spotlight-but-his-past-and-present-teammates-reveal-the-real-nank/news-story/6d2e2fd4dfd0f77d1f271b372a102112

Online georgies31

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #499 on: September 21, 2018, 01:28:17 PM »
Super important today with his work around the ground and bullocking play midfied needs to try and win contested ball to.

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #500 on: September 21, 2018, 03:03:28 PM »
Im confident he'll more than do his bit for us tonight. He gives as good as he gets against Grundy and Grundy knows that  :thumbsup

Offline Tigeritis™©®

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #501 on: September 22, 2018, 11:31:05 AM »
There’s been a lot of talk already about last night and Nankervis and Grigg etc. 

We need a better system no doubt about it but Nankervis is our ruckman he’s no Grundy or Gawn.

If anyone is expecting (as I’ve already read) we just go and get a quality Ruck like Gawn/Grundy and make Nankervis a Ruck/forward I think, is in dream land.

I think Nank is still a great Ruck. He was convincingly beaten last night, it happened. It was an absolute demolition but I don’t blame him. He had a bad one. Maybe he was just cooked.

The real issue is our second Ruck option and using Grigg is just laughable. I know it’s worked for us but how it’s taken this long for a ruckman just to smash it 20-30 metres forward each time Grigg was the opponent gaining valuable territory is beyond me.  We all laugh at how it’s worked for so long and why anyone hasn’t exploited this until now is mindboggling.

We need someone other than Grigg.

Balta is potentially good enough to run on the wing pinch hit in the Ruck, take a dangerous tall forward in defence or cause havoc up forward.

It all depends though, he hasn’t the tank yet. But I think this is the bloke that can be future help for the normally reliable workhorse we all know and love. 
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Offline pmac21

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #502 on: September 22, 2018, 11:32:16 AM »
Whatever happens Grigg in the ruck cannot happen anymore

Offline The Machine

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #503 on: September 22, 2018, 12:50:31 PM »
Whatever happens Grigg in the ruck cannot happen anymore


Yep - worked last year with amazing results. 2019 should see the return of another tall to assist Nank.

Offline eliminator

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #504 on: September 22, 2018, 01:53:22 PM »
Whatever happens Grigg in the ruck cannot happen anymore

Agree. Exposed badly last night when Grigg in ruck.

Offline TigerLand

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #505 on: September 22, 2018, 03:24:36 PM »
Agree it's been hilarious to watch the lack of thinking by other clubs, said it for months if Grigg is in ruck belt it forward or back ward 20m to a spare man running off square and its unstoppable. Grundy did that and we were cooked. Joke was on us.

Just need someone to contest which a 32 year old Grigg can't do. Worked but now its exploited.

Think we need to be careful what we think and say about Nank, he's a bloody good ruckman for a 23 year old, been a monster for us. We can't expect him to be the best ruckman in comp, but against your Gawns, Grundys and Nic Nats he needs assistance better than Grigg
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Offline WilliamPowell

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #506 on: September 22, 2018, 03:44:03 PM »
Agree it's been hilarious to watch the lack of thinking by other clubs, said it for months if Grigg is in ruck belt it forward or back ward 20m to a spare man running off square and its unstoppable. Grundy did that and we were cooked. Joke was on us.

Just need someone to contest which a 32 year old Grigg can't do. Worked but now its exploited.

Think we need to be careful what we think and say about Nank, he's a bloody good ruckman for a 23 year old, been a monster for us. We can't expect him to be the best ruckman in comp, but against your Gawns, Grundys and Nic Nats he needs assistance better than Grigg

^^^this

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Offline Tigeritis™©®

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #507 on: September 22, 2018, 04:12:53 PM »
Agree it's been hilarious to watch the lack of thinking by other clubs, said it for months if Grigg is in ruck belt it forward or back ward 20m to a spare man running off square and its unstoppable. Grundy did that and we were cooked. Joke was on us.

Just need someone to contest which a 32 year old Grigg can't do. Worked but now its exploited.

Think we need to be careful what we think and say about Nank, he's a bloody good ruckman for a 23 year old, been a monster for us. We can't expect him to be the best ruckman in comp, but against your Gawns, Grundys and Nic Nats he needs assistance better than Grigg

^^^this

 :clapping
100% agree. Nank is a contested beast, he’s not a Ruck/forward. As I’ve said before we need someone like Balta to replace Grigg.
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Online Andyy

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #508 on: September 22, 2018, 07:50:52 PM »
Can Lynch ruck? AFAIK he hasn't been used in that capacity much/yet?

Balta has rucked as a junior and in the VFL this year, but he's a young body and rucking in the AFL is a different story - and I think he'd get smashed to bits.

Offline one-eyed

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Re: Toby Nankervis [merged]
« Reply #509 on: September 22, 2018, 10:31:20 PM »
Can Lynch ruck? AFAIK he hasn't been used in that capacity much/yet?
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