Nathan Freeman explains why he walked away from Collingwood to join St Kilda

NATHAN Freeman was in regular contact with Nathan Buckley towards the end of last season, but just couldn’t make up his mind whether to stay at Collingwood or look for a fresh start.

New St Kilda recruit Nathan Freeman at Moorabin Oval, Melbourne. 26th November 2015. Picture: Colleen Petch.

NATHAN Freeman was in regular contact with Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley and football manager Neil Balme towards the end of last season, but just couldn’t make up his mind.

“I’d been 50-50 for a good month or so,” he said.

“I wouldn’t have slept well for a couple of weeks around that time.”

Freeman was weighing up the biggest decision of his young life: whether to stay at Collingwood on a new two-year, performance-based contract or pull the pin and look for a fresh start at another AFL club.

Eventually he decided on St Kilda, so he reached for his phone.

“I wanted to call Bucks, out of respect and it being the right thing to do,’’ Freeman said.

“He understood where I was coming from but told me he didn’t agree with the decision, which is understandable. But it was a bit of a relief once I’d told him.

READ MORE: SAINTS ARE SMILING ON AND OFF THE FIELD

“I knew I was doing it for the right reasons, so I was pretty content with that. All of the noise from the supporters and the media and that over the next few days, I didn’t really listen to that because I pretty much switched off once I’d made my decision.’’

He was curious, though, when Buckley’s named flashed up on his mobile phone one morning a couple of weeks later.

“He said, ‘Hey mate, there’s a quote from me about you that’s out there and has been misinterpreted’,’’ Freeman said.

The previous night, at the AFL Coaches’ Association awards, Buckley had said: “The fact that we haven’t been able to find out what sort of footballer (Freeman) can be is the disappointing thing. Nathan has a part to play in where that’s come about. Some of his problems will go with him, wherever he goes, and he’ll have to remedy those.’’

The comments were widely interpreted as a pointed clip for Freeman on his way out the door.

“Bucks said what he meant was that the problems were not about me or my off-field persona,” Freeman said.

Nathan Freeman, who followed St Kilda as a kid, visits the club’s former home ground Moorabbin. Picture: Colleen Petch

“It was about the opportunities in the midfield and needing to get my body right were problems that would follow me and I’d need to remedy them myself. And I know that.

“He rang me to clarify that it wasn’t meant as a pot shot, which is what it got interpreted as. It was good from him. I respect Bucks a lot. He’s a person I still hold in high regard.’’

So given his reverent opinion of the coach, why did Freeman, 20, walk away from Collingwood, where a persistent hamstring injury limited him to only two NAB Challenge and four VFL matches over two seasons?

“It came back to if I stayed at Collingwood I felt like I could be out of the system in two years’ time,’’ Freeman said.

“That’s why I thought it was better to go early than wait too late. Coming off two years’ injury you feel like you’re behind the eight ball. Whereas I felt as if I got my body right at the Saints there was an opportunity for game time, and especially in the midfield.

“The reality is that it’s a pretty brutal industry, and if I didn’t get my body right next season I could be out of the system the following year.”

Freeman was sought by several clubs before the trade period, but after meeting St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt and coach Alan Richardson he nominated a preference for the team he followed as a kid.

He said the medical and conditioning staff played a big role in the club he chose and “I was pretty satisfied with what the Saints had to say and their protocols with soft tissue injuries’’.

“It was not so much that I was looking for a better approach but a different approach to getting my hamstring right,’’ he said.

Freeman’s hamstring has not been “right” since he tore it 40 minutes and 39 seconds into his first game for Collingwood — a 2014 NAB Challenge match against Geelong at Simonds Stadium.

The moment is etched into his memory: “I’d been running on air and buzzing at the speed and intensity of the game. I took a handball from Jamie Elliott on the wing and then went to kick it to Quinten Lynch when I just felt a ‘pop’ in the back of my leg.

“I’d never had a hamstring problem before but I knew what it was straight away. I was right near the interchange, so I hobbled off and punched the interchange bench.

“I was pretty p-----d off, but at the time I had no idea that it was going to be as bad as it was.

“Initially we were aiming to be back by Round 2, but from there it was one thing after another.’’

Former Collingwood midfielder Freeman is still waiting to make his AFL debut. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Eventually scans showed he had ruptured the tendon and Freeman found that for the rest of the 2014 he was unable to get his running speed beyond “about 80 per cent’’, prompting a premature end to the season.

He played in this year’s pre-season matches without feeling he really had “my snap speed, my zip’’, and after four VFL matches he went to see Professor Julian Feller, who recommended surgery that ended up wiping the rest of 2015.

“Pretty much for the last two years I’ve been out injured, listed as two to three weeks away, and it’s been so frustrating.

“I never gave up trying to get back and play games, so not being able to do that was what made it the most frustrating. It would keep getting pushed back another two weeks and another two. So I’m absolutely chomping at the bit to get out there and play.

“At the same time, I’ve just turned 20 and I know that I will get right and when the times comes (to play) I‘ll just appreciate it even more.’’

He is now embarking on a St Kilda pre-season that he described as “pretty much building me from the ground up again’’.

“A lot of really structured agility sessions. A lot of lower-body strengthening: hips, glutes, back. Your body’s one unit and it’s about getting everything right around my hamstring, not just the hamstring.”

He hopes to join in full training after Christmas and be ready to play in the NAB Challenge matches.

The thought of getting out there and playing again constantly rolls through the former No.10 draft pick’s mind.

He is acutely aware that he remains the only player from the top 30 in his draft year who has not made his AFL debut, while Marcus Bontempelli, Dom Sheed and Jack Billings have established themselves as rising young guns.

Richardson will counsel patience, but said “the club and Nathan are confident that we can get the best out of him and ensure he has a long career”, just like those 2013 draft peers.

Freeman said he had the self-belief to prove he belonged at AFL level, but was edgy about taking the first few steps on that journey.

“You’d be lying if you said it didn’t (play on your mind) after two years being out of the game,’’ he said.

“But Bucks had a good quote that’s stuck with me — ‘It’s not about where you start, it’s about where you end up’.

“So hopefully by the end of my career I’ll be on a par with some of the superstars who have come out of that draft.’’