THE MARK of the man.<\/p>\n
Nic Newman will play his 150th AFL game when Carlton takes on Gold Coast, a milestone for an individual who has very much had to do it the hard way.<\/p>\n
A popular figure amongst all his teammates, the three-time Best Clubman has made a key impact during his time at IKON Park\u2026 but has also been more than willing to fire off some comments about his teammates along the way.<\/p>\n
Three close mates sat down with Carlton Media this week to speak about the milestone – and also get some revenge on Carlton\u2019s No.24.<\/p>\n
Jacob Weitering: To work his way through everything he\u2019s had to go through: he was knocked back multiple times early days, and he\u2019d admit himself that he had to do a bit of growing up. He did some great things with Frankston in the VFL, Sydney saw some things they could use and then he made the transition over to Carlton. He\u2019s really blossomed as both a player and as a leader – I\u2019m not sure if he saw himself as a leader in his younger days, but in my time at Carlton, he\u2019s been an excellent mentor and connector.<\/p>\n
Lachie Cowan: What I will say is it\u2019s a big credit to him getting to 150. He didn\u2019t have the easiest start to his AFL career, but to play 150 games – even with the injury last year, you wouldn\u2019t think he\u2019s missed a beat. He\u2019s in fine form. He\u2019s had to day it the hard way.<\/p>\n
Matthew Cottrell: It\u2019s quite impressive, particularly when you think that he didn\u2019t start when he was 18. He was a tradie from Frankston who didn\u2019t have the greatest habits but has come a long way. Maybe that\u2019s why I have a few things in common with him – growing up in the same area, we both had a lot to learn\u2026 and didn\u2019t learn much.<\/p>\n
Jacob Weitering: He\u2019s a bit older than a few of us – we call him \u2018Fossil\u2019 – but to play 150 games of AFL football and to already have his number on the No.24 locker, it\u2019s very cool to see. I\u2019m shattered I can\u2019t be out there, but I\u2019m really proud of him and hopeful the boys can do a job for him.<\/p>\n
Lachie Cowan: He probably needs to grow up a bit, he\u2019s a bit past it. He\u2019s 42 now but still tries to get into the chat with the young guys. I\u2019m a bit confused – what\u2019s the milestone? 50th birthday or 150 games?<\/p>\n
Jacob Weitering: I reckon he\u2019s still the dad of two or three boys, and I believe two of them are also speaking in this segment. He\u2019s a wise mentor that can still play football very well.<\/p>\n
Lachie Cowan: He can still be Dad at times, but I think of him more as a colleague. It\u2019s funny when he says I need to mature, because a lot of off-field stuff comes from \u2018Newy\u2019. I just do what he tells me to do, the 42-year-old that still hasn\u2019t matured one bit.<\/p>\n
Matthew Cottrell: He\u2019s still trying to hang on as the dad of a few. He\u2019s starting to dress like them now, starting to wear the baggy pants like Cow and Matt Carroll and trying to be 20 again. I think he\u2019s going to be 43 next year.<\/p>\n
Lachie Cowan: I don\u2019t reckon I would\u2019ve said much. His lovely partner Samantha was a lot more welcoming than Nic was, she welcomed me into their house. In all seriousness, they were very good to me: He took me under his wing, showing me the ropes. I saw how he went about it\u2026 and then tried to steer clear.<\/p>\n
Matthew Cottrell: I lived with him for about three nights, but there\u2019s plenty of stories that he\u2019s put plenty of mayo on. We had a great chat, played some 2K, and then he fell asleep on the couch with his dog lying on his chest – I snapped a photo, said \u2018Cute\u2019 and posted it. The way he tells it now, it was like we\u2019d never spoken before, that I broke into his room and took a photo of him sleeping. Then when Kempy was living with him, the way Newy would tell the story, it was like Brodie would basically have a whole loaf of bread every day. In reality, Kempy probably had two slices of toast.<\/p>\n
Jacob Weitering: [Is Nic Newman the greatest former Mt Martha Junior Football Club representative in the AFL?] No, he\u2019s probably not even on the podium. Lachie Whitfield is one, and then there\u2019s another guy with a wing named after him down there. He\u2019s a fair bit older than me, so I can only assume he was the big bully on pie nights on Sundays after the local home games. I didn\u2019t have too many run ins with him, and I\u2019m probably glad I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Lachie Cowan: He\u2019s pretty grumpy. You\u2019ve got to get him at the right moments for him to have some fun. A select crew can get him, or select moments in the day – I think I\u2019m in that crew. He loves me. I\u2019m one of Newy\u2019s best mates – and he\u2019s a colleague of mine.<\/p>\n
Jacob Weitering: He\u2019s one of the best connectors I\u2019ve had at this club – considering I\u2019m probably at the other end of the spectrum, he\u2019s been able to bring people like me along. He makes everyone feel welcome, and that\u2019s not a trait many have. He\u2019s been Best Clubman three times and maybe could\u2019ve even won it a few times more: he\u2019s one of the glue guys, and when he\u2019s out there playing, we\u2019re a better team for it.<\/p>\n
Matthew Cottrell: He does make footy fun. He can have a laugh about things once the game is done. He\u2019s vocal out on the field but also pretty good on the lip, similar to Benny Ainsworth. You definitely know he\u2019s out there when you\u2019re playing with him, because he\u2019s either directing traffic or sneaking down to enjoy the celebrations with the forwards.<\/p>\n
Lachie Cowan: He\u2019s done a lot for me, and I\u2019ve loved playing with him again – I missed that last year. He\u2019s such a leader on-field and also off it. The way he sets us up on the field is huge, I take everything he says on-board. As a team, everyone plays better when Newy is out there playing. He\u2019s unreal to play with.<\/p>\n
Matthew Cottrell: I\u2019ve loved playing with him again. He\u2019s an unofficial mentor for me, a sounding board. Week to week, I can come to him with anything and he puts it pretty simple for me. He\u2019s a leader for us, and it\u2019s like he hasn\u2019t missed a beat this year.<\/p>\n
Jacob Weitering: He\u2019s had a different pathway into the AFL, had to work bloody hard just to get a list spot let alone forge a long career and play 150 games. Myself and a few other guys were drafted at 18 and had the opportunity to accumulate games early, but through setbacks and injuries, he\u2019s one of the tougher people I\u2019ve seen.<\/p>\n
Lachie Cowan: I respect Newy a lot. I don\u2019t fear him now, but there was definitely fear early. He just looks grumpy – but he\u2019s a big cuddly bear\u2026 Don\u2019t quote that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE MARK of the man. Nic Newman will play his 150th AFL game when Carlton takes on Gold…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-822021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}