Nicholas Mark Naitanui (; born 4 May 1990) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football L ...

in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was born in Sydney to Fijian parents, and his family moved to

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

after his father's death. Growing up in Midvale, Naitanui attended Governor Stirling Senior High School, and played football for the Midvale Junior Football Club. After representing

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in the 2007 and 2008

AFL Under 18 Championships The AFL Under-19 Championships (for sponsorship reasons, the NAB AFL Under-19 Championships) is an annual Australian national underage representative championship in Australian rules football tournament. It is seen as one of the main pathways ...

, he debuted in 2008 for the Swan Districts Football Club in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September ...

(WAFL). Naitanui was drafted by West Coast with the second pick in the 2008 National Draft. Naitanui made his AFL debut for West Coast in round 12 of the 2009 season, against . He played ten games in his debut season, and received one

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the "best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by t ...

vote for a three-goal game against . In his second season, Naitanui played every game, primarily as a back-up ruckman to Dean Cox, taking over the position of

Mark Seaby Mark Seaby (born 1 May 1984) is a former professional Australian rules football player. He is best known as a former premiership player with the West Coast Eagles as well as being a backup ruckman for the Sydney Swans. Biography Originally fr ...

, who was traded the previous season. Having started the season as the favourite for the

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Buc ...

, Naitanui finished 5th overall. In the 2011 season, he played 23 games, including his first finals matches, and was also nominated for

Mark of the Year The annual Australian Football League Mark of the Year competition (currently also known as the Four'N Twenty AFL Mark of the Year) is a sporting award that celebrates each season's best mark. A mark is the action of a player cleanly catchin ...

. He was named in the

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led b ...

the following season, as the first-choice ruckman.

Early life

Along with his twin brother, Mark, Naitanui was born to Bola and Atetha Naitanui on 4 May 1990 in Penrith,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. His parents, originally from Suvavou, a small village near Suva, had emigrated to Australia from Fiji the previous year, with his two elder siblings, Georgie and Laisani, remaining in Fiji. His father died from cancer the year after Naitanui and his brother were born. After his father's death, his mother moved the family to

, where her brother lived. His mother began working at Homeswest, a

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

authority, and also volunteered at a homeless shelter. Naitanui grew up in Midvale, near Midland, and attended Midvale Primary School. He took up playing football at the age of nine, when he began playing for the Midvale Junior Football Club. As a child, he lived on Bushby Street in Midvale, along with Shane Yarran,

Michael Walters Michael Walters (born 7 January 1991) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Originally playing mainly as a small forward, Walters has recently spent more time in th ...

and Chris Yarran, who would all go on to play AFL football. Two other AFL players, David Ellard and Jeff Garlett, also played with Naitanui, Walters, Chris Yarran and Shane Yarran at the Midvale Junior Football Club. Naitanui attended Governor Stirling Senior High School and played football there, as well as for the Swan Districts Colts (underage) side in the

(WAFL). During his time in junior and colts football, he played predominantly in the ruck, however he also was used on the wing or at full-back. Naitanui also excelled at

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

events, particularly high jump, and was asked by recruiters to trial with American universities, but declined to do so. In the 2007 Under-18 AFL National Championships, Naitanui was dominant in the ruck for Western Australia, and was named Best on Ground in the final. Following his performance, he was hotly pursued by several AFL clubs. However, he was born a few days too late to qualify for the

2007 AFL draft The 2007 Australian Football League draft consisted of four opportunities for player acquisitions during the 2007/08 Australian Football League off-season. These were trade week, the national draft, which was held on 24 November 2007, the pre-s ...

. He was named in the Under-18

All-Australian Team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led b ...

in both 2007 and 2008, and was awarded a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport to become a member of the AIS/AFL Academy Squad. A much-hyped Naitanui was invited to the 2008 AFL Draft Camp and his results were impressive. He managed to equal the running vertical jump record previously set by

Jared Brennan Jared Brennan (born 28 July 1984) is a former professional Australian rules footballer, who last represented the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He also previously represented the Brisbane Lions. Early life ...

, but fell short of Trent Croad's standing jump record. His sprint, agility and endurance tests were also impressive. Many media commentators believed that Naitanui was in contention to be taken as the number 1 pick in the 2008 AFL Draft.The four tops
1 October 2008 The Melbourne Football Club, who retained that pick, had looked at Naitanui, but raised concerns about his skill level, in particular his kicking, and instead selected Victorian Jack Watts.

AFL career

2009–2015: Early career

Naitanui was taken at pick No. 2 overall in the 2008 AFL Draft by the

. As a highly rated future player by

John Worsfold John Richard Worsfold (born 25 September 1968) is a former Australian rules football coach and player. He was the senior coach of the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) between October 2015 and September 2020. He pr ...

, Naitanui was given the number 9 guernsey, becoming the first West Coast Eagles player to wear the number since

ist and former captain

Ben Cousins Benjamin Luke Cousins (born 30 June 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for and in the Australian Football League (AFL). Cousins is listed by journalist Mike Sheahan as one of the fifty greatest players of ...

left the club at the end of the 2007 season. His first game at the senior level was on 13 June 2009 when he was named to play against Richmond in game 12 of the 2009 season. His career suffered a setback, however, during pre-season training when he experienced knee soreness and had precautionary surgery. Naitanui impressed enough in the WAFL in a game where he accumulated 15 possessions, 21 hit-outs, 4 goals and a

spectacular mark A spectacular mark (also known as a specky, speckie, speccy, screamer or hanger) is a mark (or catch) in Australian rules football that typically involves a player jumping up on the back of another player. The spectacular mark has become a much ...

, to earn his selection in the round 12 against Richmond at Etihad Stadium. His debut game impressed many, demonstrating his athletic ability with another spectacular mark as well as 3 kicks, 8 handballs, 3 marks and 7 hitouts. In his second game against premiers Hawthorn at Subiaco, Naitanui was quiet for the first three-quarters but dazzled in the fourth, kicking three goals and leading his team to a come-from-behind win. Naitanui was honoured with a nomination for the

in round 4, 2010 in the West Coast Eagles win over the

Essendon Bombers The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...

, a match where Naitanui dominated with 13 disposals, 5 tackles and 17 hitouts. Naitanui took out the West Coast's Rookie of the Year Award for the 2010 Season and finished fifth in the 2010 Club Champion Award. In March 2012, a

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

of Naitanui performing a

slam dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with one ...

at a

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Perth Arena, ...

game received over 100,000 views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. On 17 September 2012 Naitanui earned his first All Australian Team nomination being named as the starting Ruckman. On the Friday Night game against

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...

in round 8, 2013, Naitanui took a memorable pack mark 30m out with seconds left on the clock. He proceeded to kick a

goal after the siren In Australian rules football, if a player takes a mark or is awarded a free kick before the siren sounds to end a quarter, and the siren sounds before the player takes a set shot, the player is allowed to take the kick after the siren. Often, ...

to win the game by 2 points, becoming the 35th AFL player to do so. Naitanui played his 100th AFL game in round 13, 2014, against the Gold Coast Suns. West Coast won by three points.

2016–2018: ACL ruptures

In round 21, during the 2016 season, Naitanui kicked a goal with 4 seconds remaining against the

GWS Giants The Greater Western Sydney Giants (officially the Greater Western Sydney Football Club and colloquially known as the GWS Giants or simply GWS) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Sydney Olympic Park, which represents the ...

, winning the game for the Eagles. He ruptured his ACL in the following game, and missed the rest of the 2016 season. Naitanui missed the entire 2017 season. Naitanui was in contention to play his first game for the season in the first semi-final against , but did not play. During the 2018 season, Naitanui was suspended for a week following a tackle on Port Adelaide's

Karl Amon Karl Amon (born 19 August 1995) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Port Adelaide Football Club from 2014 to 2022. Early life At age 5, ...

. The decision was heavily criticised by the AFL media and past players where it was believed he was punished for being the stronger player in the tackle. In round 17 of the 2018 season, after 15 games back from an injury to his left

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and th ...

, Naitanui landed awkwardly in a contest just before half time of the match against the

Collingwood Magpies 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 ...

, suffering the same injury to his right anterior cruciate ligament. He was expected to miss 10–12 months of football after a

reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

. West Coast went on to win the 2018 AFL premiership in his absence.

2019 Comeback

After nearly a year out of the game, Naitanui returned to AFL football in round 15 against Hawthorn, after playing just one game with limited match time for the WAFL Eagles team.

2020-2021

Since the COVID-19 pandemic put a hold at the start of the season, Naitanui had his first full season in 4 years and received all-Australian honours as starting ruckman. On 19 October 2020, Naitanui received his first John Worsfold medal as the clubs best and fairest. At the end of 2021 he won the John Worsfold medal for best and fairest. He also made the All-Australian team on the bench.

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2021 season'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , 2009 , , 9 , , 10 , , 3 , , 3 , , 15 , , 83 , , 98 , , 10 , , 39 , , 152 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 1.5 , , 8.3 , , 9.8 , , 1.0 , , 3.9 , , 15.2 , - , 2010 , , 9 , , 22 , , 9 , , 9 , , 94 , , 163 , , 257 , , 31 , , 74 , , 366 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 4.3 , , 7.4 , , 11.7 , , 1.4 , , 3.4 , , 16.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , 2011 , , 9 , , 23 , , 18 , , 10 , , 120 , , 179 , , 299 , , 50 , , 88 , , 457 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 5.2 , , 7.8 , , 13.0 , , 2.2 , , 3.8 , , 19.9 , - ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, , 9 , , 22 , , 24 , , 14 , , 116 , , 171 , , 287 , , 66 , , 75 , , 543 , , 1.1 , , 0.6 , , 5.3 , , 7.8 , , 13.0 , , 3.0 , , 3.4 , , 24.7 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, , 9 , , 11 , , 8 , , 3 , , 56 , , 71 , , 127 , , 25 , , 39 , , 279 , , 0.7 , , 0.3 , , 5.1 , , 6.5 , , 11.5 , , 2.3 , , 3.5 , , 25.4 , - ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, , 9 , , 20 , , 9 , , 7 , , 85 , , 164 , , 249 , , 31 , , 77 , , 438 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 4.3 , , 8.2 , , 12.5 , , 1.6 , , 3.9 , , 21.9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , 2015 , , , 9 , , 23 , , 17 , , 13 , , 132 , , 136 , , 268 , , 33 , , 82 , , 782 , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 5.7 , , 6.0 , , 11.7 , , 1.4 , , 3.6 , , 34.0 , - ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, , 9 , , 15 , , 8 , , 3 , , 81 , , 106 , , 187 , , 35 , , 42 , , 517 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 5.4 , , 7.0 , , 12.5 , , 2.3 , , 2.8 , , 34.5 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, , , 9 , , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , - ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

, , 9 , , 15 , , 6 , , 5 , , 82 , , 81 , , 163 , , 25 , , 64 , , 459 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 5.5 , , 5.4 , , 10.9 , , 1.7 , , 4.3 , , 30.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, , , 9 , , 5 , , 0 , , 2 , , 37 , , 25 , , 62 , , 7 , , 17 , , 146 , , 0.0 , , 0.4 , , 7.4 , , 5.0 , , 12.4 , , 1.4 , , 3.4 , , 29.2 , - class="sortbottom" ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

, , , 9 , , 17 , , 5 , , 4 , , 109 , , 83 , , 192 , , 13 , , 40 , , 496 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 6.4 , , 4.9 , , 11.3 , , 0.8 , , 2.4 , , 29.2 , - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, , , 9 , , 22 , , 3 , , 5 , , 154 , , 181 , , 335 , , 34 , , 65 , , 687 , , 0.1 , , 0.3 , , 7.0 , , 8.2 , , 15.2 , , 1.6 , , 3.0 , , 31.2 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 205 ! 110 ! 80 ! 1081 ! 1443 ! 2524 ! 360 ! 702 ! 5322 ! 0.5 ! 0.4 ! 5.3 ! 7.0 ! 12.3 ! 1.8 ! 3.4 ! 26.0

References

External links

* *
Nic Naitanui
player profile page at WAFL FootyFacts {{DEFAULTSORT:Naitanui, Nicholas 1990 births All-Australians (AFL) Australian people of I-Taukei Fijian descent People educated at Governor Stirling Senior High School Swan Districts Football Club players Australian twins Twin sportspeople West Coast Eagles players Living people People from Rewa Province Australia international rules football team players Australian rules footballers from Sydney Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia West Coast Eagles (WAFL) players