Inaugural GIANT Nick Haynes admits it wasn’t the career path he envisioned as an anxious teenager but says it’s one he’s deeply proud of as he prepares to play his 200th AFL game this weekend.
Taken at pick seven in the 2011 AFL Draft, the wiry young midfielder-forward turned star defender will become just the third GIANT drafted by the club to reach the 200-game milestone.
While he’s made a name for himself as one of the competition’s best intercept defenders, Haynes says a career on footy’s biggest stage wasn’t always the grand plan, revealing that mental demons drove him away from the game as a youngster.
“I quit football for a few years when I was 14 ‘til about 17,” Haynes recalled.
“Looking back now it [anxiety] was probably why I quit football when I was young.
“I didn’t enjoy playing football, and that’s what that was, it was the fear of playing.”
After three years out of the game, Haynes returned to the field as a scrawny 18-year-old looking for a social escape, a decision that ultimately led to an unexpected AFL career.
“I just wanted to go back and play local football at my local club and have a bit of fun with mates,” Haynes said.
“I really enjoyed that, and I started playing senior football and then got invited to the Dandenong Stingrays as a 19-year-old.”
While Haynes went on to star for the Stingrays - landing himself at the GIANTS later that year - he admits he originally lacked the drive to pursue an AFL career.
“I didn’t want to go to [Dandenong] training, but Dad kicked me out of bed and made me go,” he said.
“So, I’ll forever be grateful to a few people that supported me during those times I didn’t want to go to training and when I didn’t want to commit to football.
“To have those people and that support network around me and push me really helped me.”
More than a decade later, the 31-year-old is set to add another major achievement to a decorated career which includes a spot in the 2020 All-Australian backline, selection in the 2019 All-Australian 40-man squad, and the 2020 Kevin Sheedy Medal as the GIANTS’ club champion.
“It’s pretty surreal,” Haynes said, reflecting ahead of the milestone match.
“Back when I was 18, I was playing local football and I never thought I’d play one AFL game, so to play 200 for one club is surreal.
“From not wanting to play AFL at a young age, or I didn’t think I was going to play AFL, to be playing 200, it’s nice to be able to reflect on that, and go back to my earlier self and be proud that I was able to make those leaps that I didn’t want to make when I was young.
“When I first got drafted there was a lot of self-doubt as a footballer and so to be sitting at 200 is a super proud moment.”
Haynes - who uses meditation as a way to help with the mental side of being a professional footballer - will join teammates Toby Greene and Lachie Whitfield as those to have played 200 games since being drafted by the GIANTS, with Callan Ward also achieving the feat since crossing from the Western Bulldogs.
“Those players are great friends and great people and helped build the culture of this club so I’m super proud of the club and where we started and where we are now,” Haynes said.
“Being here from the beginning is massive for me and being an inaugural GIANT.
“All the people involved, from the lowest to the highest, are all humble and hardworking and that’s what I’m most proud of is the people at this club.
“They’ve helped me grow into a man that I can be proud of and that culture that we’ve built has really made that happen.”
Ahead of the milestone match - in which the GIANTS are chasing a new club-record eighth straight win - Haynes was putting no limits on what the team could achieve under the new leadership of first-year coach Adam Kingsley.
“It’s been amazing,” Haynes said of the feel at the club this season.
“We sat down as a group at the start of the year and discussed what we wanted to achieve, and we said we wanted to go as high as possible and everyone believed it.
“We didn’t talk about a three- or four-year plan or anything, we thought let’s give it a crack now.
“Football these days is all about role playing and executing your role as best you can and a lot less about talent and more about role playing.
“He’s [Kingsley] got us all playing specific roles and putting players in roles that can execute and do it for the team and it really simplifies footy and makes us more consistent.
“So, if we can keep doing that and keep learning the game plan and keep progressing then good things are coming at the club.”
Haynes will register his 200th game on Saturday as the GIANTS host the Swans at GIANTS Stadium in Derby XXVI at 7:30pm.
