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Nathan Grima
Personal information
Full name Nathan Grima
Date of birth (1985-08-05) 5 August 1985 (age 39)
Original team(s) Central District (SANFL)
Draft No. 14, 2008 Rookie Draft, North Melbourne
Height 192 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight 96 kg (212 lb)
Position(s) Defender
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2009–2015 North Melbourne 86 (1)
2016 Essendon 02 (0)
Total 88 (1)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2016.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Nathan Grima (born 5 August 1985) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Football Club and Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Early career

Originally from Tasmania, Grima played for the Tassie Mariners, South Launceston, the Tasmanian Devils and Central District, including in their 2007 SANFL premiership team. Grima was then rookie-listed by North Melbourne in the 2008 AFL Rookie Draft.[1]

AFL career

Grima impressed in early training sessions and looked in line for a promotion before hyper-extending his knee in a marking exercise. The injury prematurely ended his season and raised doubts about his ability to retain a spot on the list.[1]

Despite this injury setback, North Melbourne promoted Grima to the senior list before the start of the 2009 season[2] and the versatile defender was quick to show his potential, holding down a spot at full-back for North's reserves team, Werribee in the VFL in the early part of the season. His strong form led to Grima making his debut in round eight against Geelong.[3] He only missed two games for the rest of the season and combined well in defence with Scott Thompson and Scott McMahon.[4]

Grima scored his first goal in AFL football on Saturday, 17 August 2013 against Essendon at Etihad Stadium. An injury to Leigh Adams resulted in Grima being moved forward for the final quarter of the match. Having not scored a goal after 71 AFL games, he crumbed the ball from a marking contest involving Robbie Tarrant, and snapped a left-foot goal midway through the last quarter. The defender embarked on a wild celebration, being mobbed by teammates who came from all areas of the ground to congratulate him. Had he failed to score, he would have equalled a club record, with former player Ted Larsen having a 72-game drought before scoring a goal.[5]

In July 2015, Grima had announced his retirement, effective immediately, due to a back injury. Grima had been unable to fully recover from the injury that had seen him undergo surgery on his back on two previous occasions. Specialists had advised him that he would need a third operation, this time to fuse a disc in his spine.[6]

In February 2016, Grima returned to the AFL after signing with the Essendon Football Club as a top-up player due to the club's supplements controversy.[7]

Coaching career

In October 2018, Sturt Football Club announced its appointment of Grima as senior coach for 2019. He was previously the coach of Strathmore in the Premier Division of the Essendon District Football League.[8]

Statistics

[9]
Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2009 North Melbourne 17 13 0 0 124 85 209 65 37 0.0 0.0 9.5 6.5 16.1 5.0 2.8
2010 North Melbourne 17 17 0 1 181 137 318 99 24 0.0 0.1 10.6 8.1 18.7 5.8 1.4
2011 North Melbourne 17 12 0 0 111 77 188 50 17 0.0 0.0 9.3 6.4 15.7 4.2 1.4
2012 North Melbourne 17 13 0 0 132 88 220 88 31 0.0 0.0 10.2 6.8 16.9 6.8 2.4
2013 North Melbourne 17 17 1 0 186 84 270 91 35 0.1 0.0 10.9 4.9 15.9 5.4 2.1
2014 North Melbourne 17 14 0 0 159 71 230 69 23 0.0 0.0 11.4 5.1 16.4 4.9 1.6
2015 North Melbourne 17 0 — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
2016 Essendon 55 2 0 0 16 11 27 10 2 0.0 0.0 8.0 5.5 13.5 5.0 1.0
Career 88 1 1 909 553 1462 472 169 0.0 0.0 10.3 6.3 16.6 5.4 1.9

Media

Grima has appeared as a guest presenter on Fox Footy's light entertainment television series Bounce.

References

  1. ^ a b Robinson, Mark (29 February 2008). "Nathan faces Grima outlook". Herald Sun. News Corp. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
  2. ^ Sheridan, Nick (1 November 2008). "Fiora dumped by Saints". The Age. Fairfax Digital. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
  3. ^ Smith, Adam (29 May 2009). "Grima revels in limelight". Hobart Mercury. News Corp. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
  4. ^ Brodie, Will (5 October 2009). "Gibson trade through early". The Age. Fairfax Digital. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
  5. ^ Mangidis, Ricky (19 August 2013). "Nathan Grima's lifelong goal". Archived from the original on 24 August 2013.
  6. ^ Bowen, Nick (8 July 2015). "Back injury forces Kangaroos defender Grima to retire". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  7. ^ Waterworth, Ben (18 February 2016). "Nathan Grima to Essendon: Bombers confirm retired North Melbourne defender joins club". Fox Sports (Australia). News Corp Australia. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  8. ^ "Sturt appoints Nathan Grima as Senior Coach". Sturt Football Club. 8 October 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  9. ^ "Nathan Grima". AFL Tables. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
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