Former VFL Bomber Nick Hind secured a move back to the NEC Hangar in the dying stages of the trade period, arriving at Essendon after two seasons with St Kilda.

Here are some things you may not know about the speedster.

1. A memorable moment in the (VFL) sash 

Hind is a familiar name to the red and black faithful, with the 26-year-old a former feature of the club’s VFL team.

Hind donned the state-league sash for two-and-a-half season from 2016 to 2018, and first became a draft consideration following stellar performances off the half-back line. 

One of Hind’s most memorable moments for the VFL Bombers was his line-breaking dash against Richmond in the 2018 VFL semi-final against Richmond. 

As the Dons were one point down with minutes remaining in the cut-throat match, Hind burnt off three Tigers and transitioned brilliantly from back to forward to find current Dons tall James Stewart, who slotted the match-winning goal and sent the VFL Bombers into the preliminary final.

Essendon fans will be hoping for more of the same heroics from Hind in 2021.

2. AFL dream no pipedream

Hind, who grew up in Ballarat, worked as a plumber for seven years before earning his AFL opportunity as mature-age recruit in the 2018 NAB AFL Draft with St Kilda's pick No.54.

Moving into the full-time environment of AFL forced Hind to put the tools down, but he tried his hand at something a lot less physically taxing when the COVID-19 outbreak forced this year's shutdown period.

Along with several Saints teammates, Hind took up a temporary job with Australia Post to deliver packages for online shoppers across Victoria, spending four days a week sorting parcels in a Dandenong South warehouse.

Here's hoping Hind can deliver the goods for the Bombers in 2021.

3. The international debut that never happened

Hind almost earned a remarkable debut in his first year at the Saints in 2019. 

After being an emergency for six games, Hind was called to fly a day before St Kilda's round 11 away game to Port Adelaide when three Saints succumbed to illness.

Except, Hind didn’t fly to the City of Churches, but 8,057km overseas to Shanghai for the AFL’s third match in China. 

Hind unfortunately didn’t play in what would’ve been a memorable debut, but the then-24-year-old would play his first AFL game the following week against Gold Coast in a shorter, yet domestically long 4000km round trip to Townsville. 

If he was selected to play, Hind would’ve been just the second player to debut in Shanghai after Gold Coast’s Jacob Heron in 2018.

4. Hind's other passion

While Hind is very much cemented in his pursuit of becoming a top-level AFL player, there is one other sport which Hind would consider if football didn’t work out.

Hind has a strong passion for cricket and in a world without AFL, it would potentially be the new Don's dream job.

“(I’d) probably be a professional cricketer,” he told vfl.com.au.

“I’m not very good at cricket, but just to travel the world and be one of the top 11 players of Australia.”

This news is brought to you by Orchard HRO, the club's official recruitment and list management partner.