Nick Haynes was not surprised when a mark he dropped during the final quarter of Carlton’s shock loss to Richmond in round one was replayed over and over again to exemplify the Blues’ performance.
“It stood out like dog’s balls,” he said.
Nick Haynes was outstanding against Geelong in round seven.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
As far as first impressions go, it was less than ideal for the veteran defender who crossed to Carlton after an outstanding 13 seasons with the Giants.
However, he didn’t sugarcoat what happened nor did he wilt under the scrutiny.
Instead, he drew on his experience to gain perspective and went back to work.
“I’ve had a lot of experience in life and in football to know you are never as bad as you [think] are going, and you’re never as good as [you think] you’re going,” Haynes said.
Haynes has shown great character to bounce back from an ordinary start with the Blues.Credit: Getty Images
He boiled down his room for improvement to one aspect of his game: skill execution.
He was getting to the right spots. It was a matter, he wryly notes, of correcting the fundamentals.
“I’ve done it for a while now. I was confident [I could again] once I could just mark the footy,” Haynes said.
Haynes has done that and done it well, repeatedly taking intercepting marks as he did in his heyday at the Giants when he was a key part of their repeated premiership tilts and an All-Australian and club best and fairest winner in 2020.
In 2025, he is averaging the second-most marks per game in his career. Further to that, between rounds seven to 10, no player in the competition has taken more intercept marks than the 21 Haynes has grabbed.
He has rewarded Carlton’s faith, accepting the criticism directed his way without a second thought.
“You recruit a 32-year-old and you lose round one, and I played poorly as well, so it’s justified that the heat would come on me,” Haynes said.
Helping Haynes – who turned 33 last Sunday – ride the rollercoaster is the life he has built outside football.
All-Australian defender Nick Haynes was a highly respected figure at GWS.Credit: AFL Photos
Married to Rebecca and a father to one-year-old Murphy, he contemplated retiring at the end of last season, but the decision to play on was made once his wife cut to the nub of the debate and asked him how his body was feeling. When his answer was “good”, the move to Carlton was on. His form had been good enough in the VFL to give him confidence he could still play.
“I would never continue if I did not think I could add value to a football team,” Haynes said.
His laid-back vibe can’t conceal his curious mind and competitive instinct.
He enjoys using behind-the-goals vision to watch full games as he is “a big believer in off-ball patterns” and the complexities of defensive systems engages his mind.
“I’ve been really interested in that, which kind of grew into my passion [then to] enjoying my football,” Haynes said.
Haynes has developed that interest since he was an apprentice electrician in Frankston earning $8 an hour, often working overtime before heading to Dandenong Stingrays training as an over-age player from the Frankston Bombers.
He didn’t tell his boss he was colourblind because he had no problem with red and black wire colours that were standard back then, a sentence that should come with a “don’t try this at home” warning.
“I didn’t electrocute myself or cut the wrong wire, or anything,” Haynes said.
The experience that gave the laid-back sparky a good grounding when football’s inevitable challenges arrived.
“It taught you just gratitude and hard work and humbleness. It taught me a lot of things once I got into football … [Football] was still very hard work but was less hours,” Haynes said. “I was very happy getting out of my $8 job and [getting] a job in football. I had a lot of gratitude. I knew the opportunity was gonna be great.”
That outlook didn’t make Haynes bulletproof when he entered the game, however. He has been open about the challenges he had with anxiety when he began his career. His penchant for keeping it real was evident when he told the Dyl & Friends podcast last year he pretended to be happy when told he was making his debut midway through 2012 when, in fact, the thought actually filled him with dread.
He began meditating and breathing exercises which he continues to this day.
“It’s really important. You just want to be level-headed in everything you do, and it translates to life as well, not just football. I can find real clarity and calmness and focus on what’s important. I find breath work and meditation does that,” Haynes said.
“It eliminates what’s bullshit and what’s not bullshit, what’s important, and what you should be focusing on, what you shouldn’t be focusing on. It just narrows you to [recognising] what’s important, and you focus on family, friends, being a good mate, being a good person, not getting complacent, being disciplined.”
He is enjoying his football as much as he ever does, his rough start at Carlton now well in the rear mirror.
A six-handicap golfer (he was off three when he arrived in Melbourne but is taking time to get used to Victoria’s harder greens), Haynes also loves a hit with mates to remove himself from the mayhem of everyday life, joking that he’s willing to do anything Rebecca asks of him to ensure he gets to play regularly while making the required contributions to their household.
The Giants’ best two players in the 2019 grand final loss, Tim Taranto and Nick Haynes, tackle Richmond star Dustin Martin.Credit: Getty Images
Those who know the popular defender say it’s in his nature to give time to anyone and everyone, but he also enjoys a low profile. He has taken playing for Carlton in his stride because he gets what it is like to be a footy fan and respects their perspective.
“I’m not a big fan of the attention, but I’m a big fan of passionate supporters and, you know, loving the game of footy,” Haynes said. “I love that side of it. They just want to win so bad; the Carlton fans.”
He’s quick to add the Giants have passionate fans too, just not as many as the Blues.
They also have former greats but no one quite in the league of Carlton, a reality Haynes shared when discussing the chats he’s had since joining the club with past players, including Norm Smith medallist David Rhys-Jones, who presented Haynes with his No.26 jumper.
“He is a great man. It’s always good to chat to old Carlton people that played because at the Giants you have no one to chat to, except maybe Rhys Palmer or something, but it’s not the same is it?,” Haynes said.
His wry sense of humour is evident, delivered in deadpan sentences that put football in its place, a game to be enjoyed rather than endured.
Haynes is an asset, the master interceptor who has learned it’s not a bad skill to have in life too, finding ways to minimise problems before they grow too large to handle.
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