Nick Vlastuin had to ‘axe’ himself from his own SuperCoach team to turn around his form
RICHMOND defender Nick Vlastuin was not happy with his game in Round 7 after a slow start to the year. But a mid-week computer click helped change the course of his season.
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SITTING on the bench at the MCG in Round 7, Richmond defender Nick Vlastuin’s mind wandered from his side’s clash with Fremantle.
The Tigers were on their way to a 77-point win, but Vlastuin was not seeing a lot of ball.
“I wasn’t playing well and I was like, ‘I’ve barely had a touch in the first half, I’d only be on like 20 SuperCoach points’,” Vlastuin said.
Sorry, SuperCoach points?
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Vlastuin had formed a league with 15 high school mates from St Helena Secondary College in Melbourne’s northeast and had controversially selected himself.
In the opening seven rounds, he had missed two games and, against Fremantle, he’d come in under 60 points for a third time that season.
“I thought, ‘I can’t be thinking about this while I’m playing’, so I traded myself out and I ended up scoring about 130 the next week and I started scoring good again the rest of the year,” Vlastuin said.
“I won’t be picking myself next year, that’s for sure.”
Vlastuin’s mates don’t take SuperCoach lightly. They hold a “dare night” in November and the coaches who scored the lowest each round and the season overall are sanctioned.
Punishments include chest waxes, nudie runs, eating toothpaste and being forced to take bus rides from Frankston to Melbourne Airport.
After Vlastuin dropped himself, his side finished ninth.
In the past, the jokes would have flown for a Richmond player finishing ninth. These days the Tigers are lauded for their form rather than mocked as they pursue back-to-back flags.
“Last year was kind of just fake it ’til you make it,” Vlastuin said of the 2017 finals campaign.
“No one really knew what they were walking into.
“This year you know what’s coming up, you know the crowd, you know the supporter base. The hunger’s definitely still there. You just want that feeling that we had at the end of last year.”
Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn might have the AFL’s most famous beard, but Vlastuin’s ginger facial growth also has a cult following.
It started last year when doctors advised him not to shave after having stitches in his face, but he soon became the face of Richmond’s flag tilt.
“The fans jumped on board and said, ‘It could be a premiership beard’,” he said. “This year I shaved it off pre-season because it was just too hot and Round 1 everyone said, ‘Are you going to grow it again?’
“I got lazy and then people said, ‘You’re growing it again’, and I just got stuck with it.
“I’ve been looking after it better this year. Bachar (Houli) got into me, telling me to put beard oil in it every day and condition it every day. So it’s a bit cleaner and smells a bit better now.”
Recruited as a midfielder, Vlastuin has come to embrace life down back.
In 20 games this season, the 24-year-old has averaged 16.6 disposals, including 8.1 intercept possessions, as well as 6.5 marks.
A strong reader of the play, the former Vic Metro under-18 captain can often be seen sagging off his direct opponent to help teammates.
“I’m enjoying playing down back. I wouldn’t change it for the world at the moment,” Vlastuin said.
“The back seven, we’re really tight as a group and that’s something you love, celebrating with them game day after a win.
“Midfield is fun, but you’ve got to run a lot more and you’ve almost got to be a bit more selfish in the midfield because you’ve got to get the ball, whereas down back you can just play your role.”
It is not just the backline that has a bond, either.
Vlastuin believes the camaraderie built across the club last year will again be key to more September success.
“There’s a lot of running sessions in the off-season where you think, ‘I don’t want to do this’,” Vlastuin said.
“But you don’t want to let down your teammates, so you’re kind of doing that more for them than yourself. That bond’s just huge now.
“But it’s more just about playing our way, our style of footy. We think our brand of footy will stand up.”
Originally published as Nick Vlastuin had to ‘axe’ himself from his own SuperCoach team to turn around his form
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