RESILIENCE and persistence. 

Those are two qualities Nic Newman believes are underrated in the AFL world. 

Speaking as a guest on "The Unlaced Podcast" with Jake Barker-Daish, Newman admits he didn’t follow the typical journey into the AFL.

Leaving school at the age of 17 to pick up the tools and begin his apprenticeship as a landscaper is his hometown along the Mornington Peninsula, the much-loved Blue recalls how tough it was to balance his working  life with the demands of football. 

“I dropped out of school in Year 11 to do a landscaping apprenticeship – I was catching the bus to work and on the end of a wheelbarrow and shovel all day. That was tough,” Newman said.  

“I did a bit of carpentry with my step dad, then I worked with a construction company delivering nuts and bolts in the city.

"I did a few things because I had no idea what I wanted to do and I was lucky enough to find my way into footy – I’m pretty blessed.” 

Listen to the full podcast here.

Unlike many of his peers, Newman did not find himself playing any TAC Cup-level football until the age of 19 admitting he was completely off the beaten path when it came to the traditional AFL recruitment options. 

Still, alongside younger brother Josh, Newman continued to build his craft playing with the Mornington Bulldogs where, eventually, the brothers would capture the interest of recruiters from the Dandenong Stingrays.  

“We played a grand final [for Mornington] when I was top age 18s and my brother was bottom age, and the Stingrays just came to watch – they came to watch my brother and I played alright so they invited us both down,” he said.  

“They had an under-19s rule where you could have four or five 19-year-olds – I had a year there and that was when I thought I might potentially make it.” 

Following his only year with the Stingrays as a top-age player, Newman made his way to Frankston’s VFL side, securing a Liston Trophy win (VFL Best and Fairest) in 2014 – his second-last season before being drafted to the Swans as a 21-year-old. 

After swapping from the half-forward position to half-back, the new defender considered returning to the Mornington Bulldogs to finish his career with his junior Club. 

It took advice from mother Angela to put Newman in his place, encouraging to do another year with Frankston and see what he could get out of it … and what great advice that turned out to be. 

“I was going to go back to Mornington, get some extra money, but my mum said ‘what are you doing? You’re 20, give it another year’,” he said. 

“She’s been the voice of reason for me my whole life, she probably saw a bit more potential in me than I did – she gently but not so gently encouraged me to give it another go and I went to Frankston, had a good pre-season, played down back the whole year in the senior team.” 

Newman then joined an illustrious club of mature-age recruits from the Frankston Football Club, along with Michael Hibberd, Mark Baguley and Sam Lloyd. 

Whilst the journey had plenty of twists and turns along the way, Carlton’s two-time ‘Best Clubman’ is grateful for the way his journey turned out, expressing the lessons he learnt helped him build resilience, but also gave him the drive to be a better person for those around him.

Admitting that his manual labour jobs were extremely tough, he was glad he experienced that before being thrust into the world he now calls ‘the best environment to work’. 

“[Footy] can be a rollercoaster at times so the ability to be resilient and keep showing up every day, keep trying to get better, keep being persistent in what you’re doing – I feel like that’s an underrated value in playing footy and being out of the game really taught me that,” he said on "The Unlaced Podcast". 

“Also having some gratitude, I get to rock up with 40 of my mates every day and I want to stay in footy when I’m finished in terms of coaching or management, whatever it looks like, but I just love the environment a footy Club brings. 

“I feel like being able to do some different things in different workplaces, you have an understanding of how special a footy club environment is.”