Norwood onballer Matt Nunn channels inner drive to keep AFL dream alive
A hip injury ruined his chances of being taken in the AFL’s mid-season draft. But this week’s SANFL Player of the Week Matt Nunn is not going to give up on his dream without a fight.
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Classy Norwood onballer Matt Nunn is not going to give up on his AFL dream without a fight.
It is the reason he says he trains so hard, to build his game and push his case for his name to be called out in the AFL draft.
His hopes of being picked up in the mid-season draft were wrecked by a hip injury, but there has been interest after taking his game to new levels.
“It is one of the reasons I train so hard, I want to develop into one of the better players in the SANFL,” Nunn said.
“Every player in the SANFL has aspirations to get to the AFL. I think I have what it takes to get there.
“I’ve just got to finish off the season strong, push for a good finals series and hopefully get my name out there.
“I was disappointed with the timing of the injury and the mid-season draft, no one was going to pick me up while injured.
“It was something out of my control, but I wasn’t going to let it get me down and just wanted to get as fit as I could.”
Nunn emerged as a gun midfielder in the league on the back of a vast improvement in his defensive actions, only to have a torn hip flexor sideline him for two months.
But he proved he was back to his best with a huge influence in the Redlegs’ convincing win over Sturt at Unley Oval on Sunday to be recognised as The Advertiser/SANFL Player of the Week.
“It was a good game for all of us and we are hitting our straps after a rough patch,” Nunn said.
“We are starting to get a run on into the finals and if we win our last two games we may be able to push for a top three spot.”
Nunn was among a huge contingent of injured players at Norwood and that impacted on the Redlegs as they slid down the ladder.
Most of those players have returned, however, and it is showing on the field with the Redlegs finding their true form.
“Once we got the team back together we got some energy going and have been playing with a lot more excitement,” Nunn said.
“We are back to where we were last year when we had that long winning streak.
“We feel we have flicked the switch and playing well as a team.”