When Eagles giant Nic Naitanui took an absolute screamer against the Cats in round nine, 2015, the ruckman must have been secretly thinking 'I'd better make some room in the garage for a new car'.
But when Naitanui was awarded the mark of the year for his aerial acrobatics over teammate Callum Sinclair and Cats Jared Rivers and Mark Blicavs just days out from the grand final, he was gobsmacked to find no keys in the envelope.
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Instead, the then-25-year-old was given a year's supply of a breakfast cereal.
Given the coveted award was actually called the Weet-Bix Mark of the Year in 2015, getting 52 boxes of the cereal should not have come as a surprise for Naitanui, but he was adamant he was getting a new four-wheel-drive.
"I actually have a funny story about mark of the year," he said on the West Coast podcast, Eagles BACKchat, this week with teammates Will Schofield and Sam Butler.
"Obviously having Josh Hill at the club who is a relative of Ash Sampi . . . Ash Sampi got a Toyota Prado or something like that as a prize for mark of the year.
"My year I got a year's supply of Weet-Bix. I got 52 boxes of Weet-Bix. That's all I got and a medal as well."
And how many Weet-Bix did Naitanui do? None – he doesn't eat them.
"I said keep it," he laughed. "I said keep your Weet-Bix because I don't eat Weet-Bix. I thought I was getting a car mate."
The Eagles ruckman is hoping to make a comeback in the second half of the season after seriously injuring his left knee in a game against Hawthorn in round 22 last year.
He took a giant leap towards playing this year after joining the main group for competitive training this week.
Originally published on The Age as Dude, where's my car? NicNat not impressed by mark of the year prize.
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