Gumbleton was impressive in Essendon's win over the Western Bulldogs in round one of the NAB Cup and Nash said he was looking forward to seeing how his teammate performed alongside Scott Lucas in tomorrow night’s match against the Brisbane Lions.
“We’re really happy. It’s good to see Scotty up and going again,” Nash said.
"It’s going to give us a good opportunity with the forward line with Scott Gumbleton and Jay Neagle.
"It’s a good opportunity for them to work together; they haven’t played a lot of footy together.”
Nash said Gumbleton was set for a big year after battling with injury throughout his first two seasons on Essendon’s list.
“He’s going well. Touchwood the body’s holding up at the moment. He’s been great," Nash said.
"It’s good to have him up and going, the way he played last week we always knew he had it in him but we were just waiting for him to get his body right and it looks like he’s done that at the moment.”
Nash is hoping for bigger things in his own game in 2009. After 21 games mainly as a rebounding defender, the 23-year-old said he was looking at making the position his own but acknowledged there was plenty of competition.
“I think (my role) will be similar, I’ll be playing on the high half-forward and I’ll be the running half-back," he said.
"Me and Courtenay Dempsey have been doing that. Looking forward to that and maybe pushing up on the wing as well.
“There’s always competition. There’s not just him, there’s David Myers and a few other young guys who can play in that position.
"I think it’s good. It gets rid of complacency that you are going to be playing every week. It’s good competition to have.”
Dream Team watch – Jay Nash is rated a $311,700 defender and Scott Gumbleton rated a $86,600 forward in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.
