I started my cricket career out at Killarney in the juniors.

I played in a junior cricket premiership with Killarney before going in to play at Port Fairy.

The year I won the under 15 cricketer of the year award, I made 350 runs.

Gordon McLeod was a great mentor for me regarding my cricketing  career.

I played with the Western Waves in the junior grades.

The highest senior score I made was 72 runs with Port Fairy.

I really loved playing cricket, but having my own business at Sheehan Meats means I can’t play over the summer months.

It’s a shame I can’t commit, because I really did enjoy playing cricket. 

Last month you were elected onto the committee of the Warrnambool Greyhound Racing Club. Where did your involvement in greyhound racing stem from?

I’ve been involved in greyhound racing all my life because of my family.

It was only natural that I was to get involved, as my dad trained greyhounds.

I was 19 years old when I got my trainers licence.

I can still remember my first metropolitan winner – it was Eumerlla Lass  at Sandown. I’ve only got a small team of greyhounds in work, but I’ve got a few nice pups there.

Ray and Dustin Drew offered me a lot of support when I was starting out.

I was approached about a year ago about joining an advisory board at the Warrnambool Greyhound Club.

The club had no committee in place for over two years, but last month Mick White, Ray Drew, Robert Gore, Rob Duynhoven and myself were elected.  

The greyhound club is in a strong financial situation and the facilities are excellent.

I’ve got to congratulate Craig Monigatti and his team, they are doing a great job. Craig has helped the club out of a rocky time, but that’s behind us now.

It’s coming up for a very busy time at the club with the running of our summer carnival.

Nick, earlier you mentioned that you could not play cricket due to your business commitments at Sheehan Meats in Port Fairy. How old were you when you started in business?

I was 20 years old when my business commenced.

I had been an apprentice butcher with Shaun Murrihy for four years, and then the chance came up for me to buy the business and I took up that opportunity.

I’ve been in business more than eight years now; I often think back to when I opened the business. It was a huge step.

I had wonderful support from my family and friends.

I would say the first year was the toughest time.

I’ve been very lucky to have had the support of the Port Fairy community and local area, plus tremendous staff, to establish the business.

The summer months are extremely busy as I often start at 4am in the morning and can work up to 20-hour days. It’s a big commitment to run your own business, but I’ve got no complaints.

Nick, you’ve taken over as playing coach at Old Collegians for the 2019 season after playing for Port Fairy for all your career. What was the reason you changed clubs?

I wanted to get involved with senior coaching.

Old Collegians had spoken to me last year to see if I was interested in an assistant coaching position for the 2018 season, but I declined.

I just didn’t think it was right then to coach, but it’s right now.

Last year you were dramatically dropped on the eve of the 2017 grand final between Port Fairy and Koroit. Many people were impressed with how you took missing out on the grand final on the chin. Do you want to comment about that now?

I don’t think there’s any  harm in saying a few words about it. I’m not the first player to be dropped from a grand final side and I will not be the last. That’s footy, that’s team sport.

It was extremely disappointing that I got dropped, but you have to get over it as quickly as you can.

I found it difficult because I was having people walk into the butcher shop wishing me the best of luck for the game and I already knew I was dropped.

When did you find out that you were dropped?

We had defeated Koroit in the second-semi final and we knew Jack Hollimer had to get into the side, so someone would be dropped.

I got a phone call on the Sunday afternoon after the preliminary final from the coach Brett Evans.

He informed me that I would be missing out.

I must admit I was a bit shocked that Brett phoned on the Sunday afternoon.

I knew I was in the mix to get dropped.

I thought I was one of four players that may have got dropped, but to get a call was a bit disappointing.

Personally, I knew it was a tough decision by the way Brett was talking.

I would not have not made the selection decision until the Wednesday or Thursday before the game, not on the Sunday afternoon. The other thing that I’ve learnt is now that I’m a senior coach I will be going around to see the player personally – face to face – to tell him the reasons why he’s dropped.

How your relationship with Brett Evans now?

It’s good, I’ve got no complaints with him. He had a job to do.

The funny thing that happened in the lead up to the grand final was I never felt like training on the Tuesday night, but I still went.

There were some players who didn’t know I had been dropped. My good mate James Vickers organised I was to wear an Essendon jumper to training on the Thursday night, with Derek Kickett’s number 9 on my back. Derek was famously dropped by Kevin Sheedy for Essendon’s 1993 grand final.