From Pies fanatic to stealth Bomber, late bloomer soars into AFL’s elite

Nic Martin handballs during Essendon’s clash against Carlton in round 13, 2023. Picture: AFL Photos

NIC MARTIN has considered the pros and cons. He’s thought about what it would have meant to be drafted when he was 18, step into an AFL club and get going straight away. How he would have had his development sped up, his body in a program quicker and the impact of extra time in the system.

But waiting three years, and being overlooked in seven drafts, has been the making of Martin, who now sits comfortably among Essendon’s best players. He has missed one game since his remarkable debut last year and looms as an All-Australian chance and best and fairest fancy. 

“With COVID coming and all the cutbacks and list changes, I could have easily been spat out after a year and that would have been my AFL journey,” Martin told AFL.com.au.

“It’s been such a blessing because you learn so many lessons about resilience and how to deal with setbacks that I wouldn’t have if I had have been picked up then. In hindsight it was fantastic I didn’t get drafted then, which is so weird to say.”

Clearly, it didn’t feel that way at the time. 

Martin, now one of the AFL’s best wingmen, was first eligible for the draft in 2019, when he played with Western Australia’s victorious side at the under-18 carnival as a forward with Luke Jackson, Chad Warner, Trent Rivers, Liam Henry and Deven Robertson among his teammates.

Nic Martin kicks the ball during the U18 Championships match between Western Australia and Vic Country at Marvel Stadium on July 3, 2019. Picture: AFL Photos

Before the carnival, he had spoken with four or five interested AFL clubs. Afterwards, those chats dried up and by draft night he was resigned to missing out and returning to Subiaco as an over-ager. 

“I didn’t have a great championships and I was playing as a full forward. I’ve got the height but it’s probably not my preferred position. I’m pretty realistic, on draft night I went to training at Subi as I knew the best case for me was as a rookie but it didn’t happen,” he said.

Delving into Martin’s story, it is clear he became used to knowing his best- and worst-case scenarios. 

As COVID shut down competitions around Australia in 2020, the WAFL continued and Martin played eight games for Subiaco at League level, progressing his game further. He was watching members of his under-18 team from the previous year already playing at AFL level and believed he could be doing the same, with Essendon and West Coast flagging interest. 

“I thought I could be on a list but that I had a lot of work to do and the ability to be on a list would have fast-tracked that. I definitely thought I had the natural talent,” he said. 

He got that chance at West Coast at the end of that season, when the Eagles invited him to train for a pre-season rookie spot. 

“I was at work on the day of the rookie draft and got a phone call from my manager Jason Dover and he said ‘West Coast are pretty keen, and worst case you’ll train on with them’. Even then I was just buzzing. I thought it was the greatest news ever. It’s a hope, it’s a sniff, and I thought it was unbelievable,” he said.

But he strained his quad and was let go by the Eagles, returning to Subiaco ahead of the 2021 season where he viewed it as his final shot at getting picked up. By the middle of the season, he was contemplating which local club he could join for the 2022 season, unsure what more he could do to show his wares as an AFL prospect. 

A meeting with Fremantle, and the knowledge Essendon was still looking, kept his flicker alive. And after being overlooked for a third successive national draft after kicking 24 goals that season, he received a call from the Bombers on the day of the rookie draft asking if he could find his running data to send onto them as they were considering him as a rookie selection. And if they didn’t select him, they’d invite him to train in the pre-season supplemental period. 

That’s where it landed, with Martin stepping into the Hangar as an improved runner keen to make his mark. In his own way, of course. 

“All the boys like to say how quiet I was. ‘Guelf’ (teammate Matt Guelfi) says Perth boys would say ‘What’s this Nic Martin like?’ and he’d say ‘Oh yeah, doesn’t talk’,” Martin said.

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Martin was busy taking his chance, starring in an intraclub and then playing a practice match against the Western Bulldogs, after which he was officially signed as a rookie.  

“That intraclub was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me. I thought after that I could seriously play and seriously compete and it gave me so much confidence to keep the ball rolling and keep momentum going,” he said.

He locked in a round one debut against Geelong, where he starred with five goals from 27 disposals (“We’ll round it up to 30,” he said) in one of the most extraordinary debuts in recent times. 

Martin missed the following week through COVID protocols in place at the time, but has played every one since, a 41-game run that has seen him quickly develop into a key for the Bombers. He was named the club’s Rising Star last season but is set for higher honours this year, with Martin elevating his game to be one of the competition’s best wingmen.

The 22-year-old’s elite kicking, smarts with the ball, decision-making under pressure and goalkicking have made him a stealth Bomber – with little fuss, he has become one of their biggest weapons. He is one of only eight players to have had eight or more games in the past two seasons of at least two goals and 20 disposals. It is a set of numbers that the accountant-to-be can be proud of, having graduated his finance degree.

“Some boys ask me to do their tax returns and I say I can’t, I haven’t done accounting in a while,” he said. 

He was super again last week against North Melbourne with a career-best three goals and 32 disposals, with his kicking derived from watching YouTube clips and plenty of time spent with his brothers at Subiaco with a ball in his hand perfecting the skills that the Bombers now trust so much. 

“The best thing about it is the confidence I have with it. I’ve missed plenty of kicks. I’ve tried to bite off things that weren’t there. And the coaches Brad (coach Brad Scott), ‘Gia’ (Daniel Giansiracusa) and Benny Jacobs have never said ‘What are you doing?’ It’s always been like ‘If you think you can hit it, we’re backing you’ and it’s given me so much confidence to play with freedom and flair,” he said. 

The sharp rise after a long wait has made for many moments to take stock. The first came after that famous debut, which saw him head back to his parents’ hotel post-game and them all wonder what the hell just happened. 

“We were walking back to the hotel near the MCG and a person wearing an Essendon scarf looked at me a couple of times like ‘This guy looks kinda familiar’,” Martin said.

“I don’t know if you believe in footy gods or not, but the ball bounced my way a couple of times that day.” 

Nic Martin in action during his debut in the R1 match between Essendon and Geelong at the MCG on March 19, 2022. Picture: Getty Images/AFL Photos

Another came a few weeks after that, when he played in his first Anzac Day clash against Collingwood. The Magpies were Martin’s family’s team – there’s still some black and white memorabilia decking out their Perth home – and Martin was a dedicated fan. So much so, that he grew up wearing Nathan Buckley’s No.5 – even replicating his dress sense. 

“That’s embarrassing,” he said. “As a junior I had my shorts up and jumper tucked in and my parents used to say ‘You’ve gotta untuck it, you look like such a dork’, but because ‘Bucks’ did it and I had the five on my back, I was like ‘Nah I’m gonna play like Bucks’. Once he hung them up I quickly jumped ship to ‘Pendles’ (Scott Pendlebury). 

“Last year on Anzac Day at the first centre bounce, Pendlebury lined up on me at half-back and I was star struck.”

The family tradition went further – their dogs have been named after some Pies greats. 

“It started with Buckley when I wasn’t born. That was more my brother. Then there was Daicos – after Peter, obviously, and my mum is actually Macedonian as well, so there’s a bit a link there. Then it finished with Darcy, who was named after Moore … but now Parish,” he said.

But, like the Essendon faithful to Martin, Martin’s family are Essendon converts. Essendon remains in the finals mix ahead of Saturday’s clash with Greater Western Sydney but is already thinking about the impact of another busy pre-season building his chemistry with his fellow midfielders. But as his game evolves, don’t expect his jumper number to change.  

“There was a bit of talk about it, fans saying ‘Will he keep it?’ (Former Essendon No.37) Dyl Clarke actually said to me ‘Mate keep it, don’t change’. I thought about it after the first year but nothing eventuated or came up, so I’ve done the second year in the 37 and that’s it. That’s what I’m sticking with,” he said.

“There’s no names on the No.37 Essendon locker so I’d be the first to 100 games to get on the locker. I’m making 37 my own. Not many kids have 37 yet, but hopefully soon.”