GWS Giants star reveals lighthearted sledging battle with Marcus Bontempelli
Nick Haynes says he’s buried the hatchet with Western Bulldogs foe Marcus Bontempelli after his freak injury. But that didn’t stop the two trading some lighthearted sledges on the field.
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Nick Haynes found out the hard way that he can no longer hit the high notes in the GWS Giants victory song.
But the star defender has revealed he had no problem holding his tune in an entertaining sledging exchange with Marcus Bontempelli.
Haynes suffered a cartilage fracture in his voice box a month ago thanks to a high shot from Bontempelli, a freak injury that threatened to rule the Giants’ unsung hero out for the rest of the season.
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In the end, Haynes has made a quick recovery, and hasn’t had his voice permanently altered, although his singing left a little to be desired after Saturday’s win over the Western Bulldogs.
Bontempelli’s round 22 run-in with Haynes was logged in the memory bank by GWS players leading into last week’s final, to the point it was mentioned — albeit briefly — in team discussions before the elimination final rematch against the Bulldogs.
The Brownlow favourite might have apologised to Haynes via text in the wake of the incident in round 22, but that wasn’t the end of the dialogue.
“I played with him forward for a little bit. We had a chuckle and a little bit of banter, but all in good heart and good fun. He’s a good fella,” said Haynes.
“It was all in good fun.
“We wanted as a whole footy team to be physical. It’s finals footy. Loser goes home. We think we play our best footy when we play a tough brand and we wanted to put that on the whole Bulldogs team, not just one player. And I thought we did that really well.
“He sent me (a text) about five days post the game, just checking in to see if I was alright. I appreciated the message.
“He said he wanted me to get out there and play against the Dogs, which I did.”
Haynes almost completely lost his voice the days following his larynx injury.
After a failed attempt to fight through the pain barrier and eat a first-up meal of fried chicken and chips, Haynes conceded and stuck to porridge for breakfast and soups for dinner.
Haynes had little hesitation in putting his hand up for the finals, despite a small risk he could cop another hit to the same area and suffer more serious damage.
But it’s fair to say that after fulltime against the Bulldogs, he realised he’s still not quite 100 per cent.
“I was trying to sing the song on the weekend and I couldn’t gusto it out. But as long as I’m 90 per cent … hopefully that other 10 per cent comes,” he said.
“If it doesn’t, then all good. I think I had a husky voice anyway, so this just adds to it.”
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Originally published as GWS Giants star reveals lighthearted sledging battle with Marcus Bontempelli
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