Conor Nash

Conor Nash (born 28 July 1998) is an Irish professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
The former Ireland national schoolboy rugby union team player was signed by Hawthorn as a category B rookie in October 2016 in the 2016 rookie draft.
Sporting career
A former Meath minor footballer, in 2016 Nash was offered a Leinster rugby union academy contract, but instead opted to move Down Under and he has not looked back since. Astra both on and off the field Conor Nash is well known for running through the streets of Melbourne on a morning jog. Nash joined in late 2016 as a Category B rookie, having already represented Ireland U18 rugby side. He made his Box Hill debut in 2017. Nash suffered a severe hamstring injury that cause him to miss half his first season. He was elevated to the main Hawthorn list in July 2018.
AFL career
He made his debut for in the 11-point win against at MCG in round 21 of the 2018 season. His form was promising enough that selectors kept him in the side and he played in two finals.
Nash played 14 games in the 2019 season but only two in the shortened season of 2020. He was dropped from the senior side and relegated to the Box Hill affiliate.
After initially playing his entire career as a forward, at the suggestion of Box Hill coach Sam Mitchell, Nash was played as a midfielder. He showed promise in this new position and was selected for Hawthorn's match against the Brisbane Lions on 1 August. In a career-defining performance, Nash collected 23 disposals, laid nine tackles and won seven clearances as Hawthorn defeated Brisbane 92-80. With Nash in the midfield, Hawthorn was undefeated for the next four games beating Brisbane, Collingwood and Western Bulldogs and drawing with Richmond.
In 2022, with the illness and then injury to team captain and ruckman Ben McEvoy, Nash was asked to fill in as the second ruckman.
In June 2022, Hawthorn announced that Nash had signed a two-year contract extension lasting until the end of 2024.
Statistics
Updated to the end of 2023.
|-
| 2017 || || 45
| 0 || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || 0
|-
| 2018 || || 45
| 5 || 2 || 4 || 21 || 21 || 42 || 12 || 20 || 0.4 || 0.8 || 4.2 || 4.2 || 8.4 || 2.4 || 4.0 || 0
|-
| 2019 || || 11
| 14 || 9 || 4 || 53 || 71 || 124 || 26 || 38 || 0.6 || 0.3 || 3.8 || 5.1 || 8.9 || 1.9 || 2.7 || 0
|-
| 2020 || || 11
| 2 || 0 || 1 || 11 || 5 || 16 || 5 || 0 || 0.0 || 0.5 || 5.5 || 2.5 || 8.0 || 2.5 || 0.0 || 0
|-
| 2021 || || 11
| 8 || 2 || 1 || 51 || 59 || 110 || 26 || 23 || 0.3 || 0.1 || 6.4 || 7.4 || 13.8 || 3.3 || 2.9 || 0
|-
| 2022 || || 11
| 21 || 2 || 2 || 165 || 161 || 326 || 48 || 86 || 0.1 || 0.1 || 7.9 || 7.7 || 15.5 || 2.3 || 4.1 || 0
|-
| 2023 || || 11
| 23 || 1 || 5 || 213 || 339 || 552 || 60 || 110 || 0.0 || 0.2 || 9.3 || 14.7 || 24.0 || 2.6 || 4.8 || 0
|- class="sortbottom"
! colspan=3| Career
! 73 !! 16 !! 17 !! 514 !! 656 !! 1170 !! 177 !! 277 !! 0.2 !! 0.2 !! 7.0 !! 9.0 !! 16.0 !! 2.4 !! 3.8 !! 0
|}
Notes
Honours and achievements
Team
VFL premiership player: 2018
Individual
Peter Crimmins Medal third-place: 2023
most improved player: 2023
References
External links
1998 births
Living people
VFL/AFL players born outside Australia
Hawthorn Football Club players
Box Hill Football Club players
Gaelic footballers who switched code
Irish expatriate sportspeople in Australia
Irish players of Australian rules football
Irish people of American descent