1. He came from humble beginnings

Nic Naitanui moved from Fiji to Western Australia when he was around five years old.

His mother found employment at youth and homeless shelters, where she worked for more than 20 years.

 “I swear my house was the youth shelter, there was always 10 or 12 kids,” Naitanui laughed.

“And mum always felt sorry for families and she’d always go without… we’d always go without because Christmas time you’d always be sharing it with other families. My house was always full."

“It was never boring, there was always people coming from mum’s work, we made a lot of friends that way and you learned to share things.

“I also never really owned anything, I always share, but for me I wouldn’t have it any other way.”'

 

2. He lived next door to Michael Walters and Chris Yarran

Naitanui was introduced to football in Midland, where he witnessed his neighbours playing on the road.

These boys turned out to be Michael Walters and Chris Yarran, who would later go on to play at Fremantle and Carlton respectively.

“There was a couple of Indigenous boys playing footy out the front of my house, and I was thinking what’s this funny-shaped thing that they’re bouncing and why are they kicking it,” Naitanui laughed.

“Yelling out things like ‘CAPPER!’ I was like what is happening here.

“It’s pretty scary to think three AFL guys lived next door to each other.”

 

3. He played his first game of football in Dunlop Volleys

Naitanui’s mother sent half of every pay cheque back to Fiji, to ensure the family was always well looked after.

This meant sometimes a young Nic had to miss out.

“My friends’ parents had to buy me my first pair of footy boots and buy my football fees because we just couldn’t afford it.

“At the time I always used to get angry at my mum and say, 'Why don’t I get the new Nike boots or why don’t I have a pair of Skins to wear under my shorts?' All the boys were wearing them.

“Realising that they were eighty bucks, or that it was $150 for a new pair of boots, it didn’t translate in my head.

“I didn’t really think about how hard it was to be a single mother looking after growing boys and giving money back home and working three jobs."

“I look back now and I feel a little bit guilty for saying those sorts of things.

“I think I only played one or two games (in under 11’s), and I played in a pair of sneakers.

“They were the old Dunlop Volley sneakers that I got from Target,” Naitanui laughed.

“They had no traction or anything and they were sliding everywhere, like a freshly born baby giraffe.”

 

4. He loves watching a ‘raw’ style of football

Naitanui travels to the Northern Territory every year to see football stripped back to basics.

He works in remote Aboriginal communities witnessing the 'raw talent' that very few get to witness.

“The red dirt, bare foot, the fun side of footy, where they’re taking screamers, they’re kicking snaps around their body and doing things that most children their age shouldn’t be able to do.

“We’ve got Liam Ryan at our footy club, and to be honest, when we had him and Willie Rioli, you just think, what they are going to do.

“That’s what makes training fun, because they snap goals from the pocket, they take screamers when they’re running backwards.

“That’s why I think Simmo’s such a good coach, he nurtures it, he allows you to be who you are and play instinctively."

 

5. He sends half of his money home to Fiji

Even before Naitanui played AFL, he always made sure he knew his family was well looked after.

 “I remember I won a grant from the AFL life members, when I was 17, and that was like a $3000 grant, that’s meant to go to your footy, and that went straight to the village,” Naitanui laughed.

“I’ve just grown accustomed to it, it’s always been a part of me, and I think just giving back.

“For me it’s not a big thing, even though sometimes monetary-wise, you’re not in a situation to do so, it’ll always find a way to get back to you, I always believe that.

“It might not be money, it might be a thank you and a smile, and that’s always been enough for me.

 

6. He sleeps on the floor

If you’ve seen the Amazon documentary, you would have been surprised to see a 6"5 Nic Nat clambering onto the ground with blankets and pillows.

“I just find the floor, there’s more space, and you can lay wherever you want," Naitanui said.

“As much as I say I lay on the floor, I’m pretty particular about where I lay."

“If I’m at a hotel, I’ll put a blanket down first because you just don’t know who’s been doing what on those carpets,” Naitanui laughed.

“At home if it’s really hot I’ll lay on the tiles in the kitchen.

“I do have an aircon, I do have a fan, but there’s just something about the floor that I enjoy, I think it’s a Fijian thing, a lot of families I know sleep on the floor.”

 

7. He almost didn’t return to AFL in 2015

It was a difficult year for Naitanui, with the loss of his mother before the beginning of finals.

A then-25-year-old Nic Nat had to fly home to Fiji to begin the processes of the funeral, while also attempting to make it home for finals.

Fiji is vastly different to Australia, with members of the family putting in all the work to ensure the proceedings run smoothly.

“To be honest, the wave of emotion hit me pretty hard, I obviously had a tough year, I’d lost my cousin at the start of the year and had to go bury him, then I lost my mum on the eve of the finals,” Naitanui recalled.

“So a bit selfish of me, but that Grand Final week was obviously meant to be the biggest part of your life… but for me it was a bit of a blur.

“I didn’t sleep much before the game. Initially I didn’t want to play in the Grand Final, in the weeks leading into it, I felt pretty selfish not to play.

“Losing the Grand Final probably just brought it all to the forefront, and I think once I walked back into the locker room, it all just hit me.

“I just remember sitting back home in the village after it had all happened, after the funeral was done and after the dust had settled, I kind of didn’t want to come home.

“I thought, ‘what’s the point in playing footy?'.

“Everyone has their reason why they play footy, and for me most of my reasoning why was for my mum.

“Whether it was to make her not have to work three jobs anymore and get her a house, or help support her or make her proud.

“They were my biggest drivers and I guess to not have her around anymore I thought, ‘what’s the point?'.

“It wasn’t until one of my uncles sat me down in our family home over there and said don’t waste your time here.

“Go on, go and make something of your life, go and make something of your career.

“We were a chance to make the Grand Final, which we ended up doing, so I had a realisation that I had to come back, grow up, man up.

“I did that pretty quickly, so I’m human… it hit me like I said at the end of that game.”

 

8. He’s written a children’s book

After suffering at the hands of racism, Naitanui decided he wanted to further educate Australian youth in an attempt to stamp it out of society.

 “Playing footy early days was one of the hardest things for me, because I’d get called every name under the sun, even in the AFL my first couple of years I was getting racially vilified," Naitanui said.

“I’d get supporters when I was standing in the goal square calling me a black so-and-so.

“My social media, I still get it.

“Probably one or two a week, when the season’s on, people saying people like me don’t belong in the game.

“I used to be the guy that used to screenshot it and post it and say enough is enough, but I learned that I don’t want to give them a voice.

“I sat down with my management company and said, ‘what’s a way I can help express my views… without making it so ‘in your face’ or in a negative way?'”

“That’s where the children’s book came about. We thought, let’s keep educating.

“I think the way 'Simmo' (Adam Simpson) summed it up with ‘pulling people up’… he’s made the football environment one where you’re not casually saying something.

“Having an environment where you don’t have to pull people up all the time… makes it a safe and comfortable environment.”

 

9. He was mic’d up regularly for Amazon Prime

Football clubs, tactics and coaching styles are always going to be inherently private, so allowing full access is not something that West Coast, or Naitanui, takes lightly.

“To allow an external film crew to come in and document everything, I was like, there’s a bit of the Keeping up with the Kardashians about this.

“I wore a mic for every game and for every training session, and I think if they put it altogether they could make a years’ worth of documentary,” Naitanui laughed.

“The first few weeks everyone knew I was wearing it so guys would sort of avoid you at times.

“I would wear it at lunchtimes… sometimes guys, particularly myself, would be worried about what we said.

“But as soon as someone whacks you in the side of the head, or you’re losing and want to get going again, you don’t care about a mic or a camera on you, you just be yourself and I think that’s going to be the most riveting part of it.

“We (also) wear a GPS behind our neck, and I had this massive mic that was connected to me as well, which was a bit of a hazard, I think I broke one, but Amazon got plenty of money so…” Naitanui laughed.

 

10. He’s been frozen at -120 degrees

Quite possibly the most astounding fact on the list is that Nic Naitanui climbs into a chamber at -120 degrees Celsius.

Even more astounding, perhaps, is that he does it regularly.

 “You’ve got to find those little things that help your career especially when you’re getting to the back end of it.”

“They think it takes away all your soreness but I don’t think it does, I think it freezes you so you can’t work out what is sore, and what’s even working anymore,” Naitanui laughed.

“All smoke and mirrors with that thing, but it’s probably like jumping in an ice bath, we get in ice baths every day, and I think it’s the same thing just in a shorter amount of time.

“You can’t stay in it too long because I think your extremities would just fall off, it is that cold.

“You have to give it a go,” Naitanui laughed.

 

Listen to the full podcast here.