At 23 and after years of playing footy with the same team mates he grew up with at Busselton, Nick Hammonds joined some mates with a love of surfing and headed off for that big life changing trip that many young men embark on.
Busselton was home with the folks who grew Proteas (that's the flowers not the South African cricket team) for export mainly to Japan - Yep & there's good $$$ in it too! - but now at 26 he has no regrets in moving to the beautiful Sunshine Coast.
Nick played the usual junior rep footy but had no flag to celebrate and despite his runner up position in our club B&F last year (his 3rd at Noosa) surprisingly he hasnt won one in Senior football. I say surprising because for someone coming in new to the club I see this man as a very talented and calm footballer & the sort of team mate most blokes would want to run out onto the field with.
Anyway back to the surfing trip and when the group had dwindled down to two and sitting in Northern NSW at Port Maquarie, a call to cousin Josh Evans was enough to see Nick head to the Sunny Coast and four years later he has no intentions of leaving and heading anywhere else too soon.
And that surf board still gets a regular run and when he's not hitting the waves on his own, Nick may call on mates like Rizza to catch a wave with and he's even working on Trompfy at the moment to get him to become a convert
Like most players Nick loves it in the middle and he can certainly back that up as he generates mid field possessions and uses the ball to maximum effect each time it comes into his hands.
Nick Hammonds has that surfers calm in the way he carries himself on and off the field and I know Tigers supporters and his team mates are grateful that he made that phone call from Port Macquarie 3 1/2 years ago.
Last Modified on 10/05/2009 18:07