Nick Davis (born 30 March 1980) is a former professional
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
er and
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
footballer who played for the
Collingwood Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...
and the
Sydney Swans
The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...
in the
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...
(AFL), and for the
Sydney Roosters
The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...
in the
NRL Nines
The NRL Nines is a rugby league nines competition, normally held during the NRL preseason each year. It was initially held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 2014 and 2017 before going on hiatus. Returning in 2020, hosting duties moved to Perth ...
.
Collingwood
Born in Melbourne, and moving to Sydney at the age of four, Davis played
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
football as a schoolboy before becoming involved in
Australian rules
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
. He was drafted by
Collingwood, the club where his father
Craig played 102 of his 163
VFL/AFL
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...
games, with a
father-son pick in the
1998 AFL Draft. Davis was never comfortable living under the microscope at
Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to:
Places Australia
* Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales
* Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse
* Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...
, where the expectations placed upon him were magnified by the spectre of his father's courageous attitude to the game and triumph over adversity, combined with the Magpie fans' insatiable desire for success.
After 16 games in his debut season, a homesick Davis fled back to Sydney after just two days of his second pre-season campaign. It took two weeks for him to regain enough composure to return to Melbourne.
At the end of his two-year contract, Davis re-signed and rewarded the club's faith with a solid year, kicking 36 goals in 21 games. But after an injury-riddled pre-season in 2002 and some indifferent performances early in the year, pressure mounted on Davis to re-sign with the Magpies. He said he wanted to wait until the end of the season, a decision that did not go down well with the Magpie hierarchy.
After playing 20 games – including a cracker against
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
in the
preliminary final win that steered Collingwood into the
2002 Grand Final – Davis told the Magpies he wanted to go home. A last-minute trade – a bargain that cost the Swans just a second round pick in the 2002 draft – paved the way for Davis to move home.
Sydney career
He hit the ground running in 2003 with 32 goals in 24 appearances before injuries again interceded in 2004; first hip, then ankle. The rigours of rehabilitating an injured ankle quickly eroded Davis's desire to play footy. For two days in June 2004, the club did not know of his whereabouts—and, when he did return, he was having serious thoughts about shifting to
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
.
Davis' enthusiasm eventually returned, and, although he showed glimpses of his best (like the three impressive goals in the round 21 win over the
Bombers
A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an aircraf ...
at
Telstra Stadium
Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. The stadium, which in Australia is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Stadi ...
), he carried the remnants of the hip and ankle injuries through the year.
2005 – Realising potential
Despite a three-week stint on the sidelines with a hamstring strain mid-year, including missing the season-turning 43-point defeat to after which he was recalled to the side, Davis's form continually improved throughout 2005. He was rewarded for his superior fitness with the occasional run through the midfield, while 12 of his 31 goals for the season came in the final month.
2005 semi-final
Davis is best remembered for his performance in the final quarter of the
2005 second semi-final between Sydney and . In a low-scoring game at the small
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...
, Sydney trailed 3.12 (30) to 6.11 (47) at three-quarter time, which increased to a 23-point margin after Davis's direct opponent,
David Johnson, kicked the opening goal of the final quarter.
Davis then recovered to kick the last four goals of the game, delivering Sydney a three-point victory, 7.14 (56) d. 7.11 (53). His first three goals came from two difficult snaps and a set-shot, and the last came from a stoppage in the final five seconds of the game. The ball-up twenty metres from the Swans' goal was tapped to a running Davis by ruckman
Jason Ball. Davis did not have time to take a clean possession, and on the wrong side of the goal for a right-footed player of his nature. Davis juggled the ball before snapping a shot with his left foot, kicking a goal to put Sydney ahead with just three seconds remaining. It is considered one of the greatest individual quarters of football ever played.
As a result of Davis's heroics, Sydney progressed to the preliminary final against St Kilda. Sydney won that game, and they went on to win the
2005 Grand Final against to end a 72-year club premiership drought.
"I'm a scapegoat"
In round 14 of 2006 after the Swans had played Adelaide at the SCG, Nick Davis was dropped from the seniors and sent to the reserves. This proved to be a major challenge. After an outcry to the media, coach
Paul Roos was furious and kept him playing in the reserves for 6 weeks. However, he came back in round 21 and played all the remaining games of the season, including the
2006 Grand Final, where he was one of Sydney's best, kicking 3 goals.
2008–present
Nick Davis played only three games for the Swans in 2008, after being dropped for a period and then being brought back in to cover during Barry Hall's seven-match suspension for striking Brent Staker. He played in the controversial draw against North Melbourne, when Sydney had an extra man on the field for 90 seconds near the end of the game,
before again being dropped. He did not play another game for the Swans for the year due to dislocating his kneecap and requiring surgery, and he was not offered another contract at the end of the season.
Davis flagged an interest in moving to Perth to play for the West Coast Eagles when he came out of contract at the end of the 2008 season. He was delisted at the end of the year and was not selected in the
2008 AFL Draft. He attempted to convert sports to become a
punter in the NFL, but was not signed by any team.
In 2012, Davis became a runner for the Sydney Swans and was also employed as a marking and kicking coach for the Cronulla Sharks. He then moved to the
Sydney Roosters
The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...
to be their kicking coach.In 2020, the club also announced they had signed him for the
NRL Nines
The NRL Nines is a rugby league nines competition, normally held during the NRL preseason each year. It was initially held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 2014 and 2017 before going on hiatus. Returning in 2020, hosting duties moved to Perth ...
. Davis's press conference announcing the signing was attended by both Roosters head coach
Trent Robinson
Trent Robinson (born 15 March 1977) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Sydney Roosters in the NRL and a former professional rugby league footballer.
He has previously held coaching positions at Toul ...
and Swans head coach
John Longmire
John Longmire (born 31 December 1970) is the current coach of the Sydney Swans. As a player, he represented the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 1988 to 1999.
Early years
Longmire was born in Corowa, ...
.
Statistics
:
Nick Davis' player profile at AFL Tables
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2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
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! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2008
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, - class="sortbottom"
! colspan=3, Career
! 168
! 235
! 135
! 1465
! 652
! 2117
! 714
! 195
! 1.4
! 0.8
! 8.7
! 3.9
! 12.6
! 4.3
! 1.2
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Nick
Australian rules footballers from Sydney
Collingwood Football Club players
Sydney Swans players
Sydney Swans Premiership players
NSW/ACT Rams players
St George AFC players
1980 births
Living people
Australia international rules football team players
One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players