Preparing to face his old side in St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Saturday for the first time since he was traded to Essendon, dashing defender Nick Hind says he is relishing his new role at the Bombers.

Hind was plucked from the VFL Bombers by St Kilda and spent two years on the Saints' list before returning to Essendon in a last-minute trade between the two clubs last year.

A gun VFL half-back who played two-and-a-half seasons with the VFL Bombers, he made his mark at the Saints as a small forward but has returned to the half-back role at Essendon under new senior coach Ben Rutten.

“It’ll be pretty funny I guess (facing the Saints),” Hind told AFL Tonight on Tuesday night.

“Obviously I’m close with those guys and have built strong friendships but footy is footy and I’m sure it will be a good hard battle out there (on Saturday), but we’re all good mates at the end of the day.

“I was originally from Ballarat and I knew Dan Jordan who was involved in the VFL program and he invited me down to train with no guarantee that I would even make the list. But I guess I was able to prove that I was up to it and put together a couple of years with the VFL at Essendon and really enjoyed my time there.

“And then I was lucky enough to be drafted by the Saints and loved my two years there but the opportunity arose that I could come back to Essendon and play in that half-back role where I’ve always played my footy. I am so happy to be back at the Bombers.” 

Making his club debut in round one, Hind’s presence down back for the Bombers was immediate, with the speedster racking up 25 disposals, six marks and four tackles in the loss to Hawthorn.

The 26-year-old said he was embracing being part of the Bombers’ young backline brigade.

“I’m really enjoying being back down there. It’s been a challenging start (to the season) for us, but personally I’m loving the opportunity playing at half-back and playing with the young group at the moment, I’m really enjoying that,” he said.

“As a group, we’re quite upbeat and ‘Truck’s’ (Rutten’s) messaging has been very clear which really helps us. We probably haven’t put together the four quarters each week that we would’ve liked, but we’ve seen in patches that our best footy is up to it so it’s just about continuing to learn and putting those things in place for longer in games.

“There’s always things I need to work on, and I’ll continue to do that with the coaches, but it’s been nice to settle back into that half-back role and continue to grow my game.

“We haven’t got a lot of experience down back at the moment but we’re starting to put it together as a group and I’m really excited to learn and build on what we have down there this year.”

The Bombers will host the Saints from 4:35pm on Easter Saturday. Click here for a match-day guide.