People if hes on the trade block .needs games, for added value ,simply cant give good players away like Mumford !
People if hes on the trade block .needs games, for added value ,simply cant give good players away like Mumford !
How about we just keep him? He's young. Had a few injuries. He will be really good.
Please?
I agree. I think he is a terrific young man.
I only worry about what is going to happen if Kennedy, Parker and Bird have really good starts to the season, and none of them get injured. It's conceivable that Tom could play the 1st 10 rounds in the reserves without a senior call up.
If that happens there are going to be a few noses out of joint. There is a Mitchell thread on BF that is exploding.
He is a gun. It would be utter lunacy to let him go. He can play a long side with Kennedy, Parker & Bird as they can rotate. Bird excels as a tagger. Mitchell excels as an extractor, hands balls superbly and finds space to receive the ball. I can see Goodes & Shaw retiring so he can fill a permanent spot. There is a lot of hype regarding Mills and I am sure he will be a gun, but he will need to be developed to cope with the difference of standards as compared to the under 18s. In the interim Mitchell is already "battle hardened" so why not keep him. With regards to BF why take heed of the drivel that posters espouse. Sure there are some sensible knowledgeable posters, but they are outnumbered by the biased ignorant feral supporters of all clubs.
Well he averages 19 disposals at senior level already and he has only played 15 games. Not too many new AFL players do that. The average is 9. So I don't know about you but I think that makes him an AFL player mate.
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If Macmuffin goes back to HB then they can all play in the same team. Parks goes to inside/outside as he can play that role.
Reserves game today at Ainsley; Mitchell 16, Benny 14, Hewett 14. There you go more possessions than Benny. Using it better too by the commentary from Arwon on Twitter.
I'm not too sure what Mitchell has to do to get some sort of wrap from his coach. Been nearly the leading possession getter for two weeks on the trot, making tackles and getting contested possessions.
Says the right things about humility and ' everyone has to earn his place' etc when interviewed after Saturday's match.
But the coach remains non committal about him...almost shrugs off his efforts when interviewers ask about him.
Is there an agenda somewhere here, cos it beats me.
I regard Mitchell as almost a lock for the rest of the season.
Any thoughts?
Yeh but when does Horse ever wrap up any of the boys? He's like that no matter who he's talking about, it's just that he's been asked about Tom more than anyone else recently.
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I agree, royboy. Was disappointed once again by Longmire's very tepid comments.
When Longmire refers to Mitchell it's always something like "He knows how to find plenty of the ball...". The unstated conclusion to that line of thought to me is "...but he doesn't know what to do with it when he does." I think his performance against the Dees puts a pin in that idea. His efficiency and decision making was fantastic.
My only conclusion is that he wants Mitchell to keep working hard on the weaker aspects of his game and is concerned that excessive praise will stunt that development. He's a natural footballer but (this is stupid I know) I do sometimes wonder about the internal politics at the club. Like how hard does he work, does he have the respect of his teammates, has he failed in the past to meet some benchmarks/instructions set by coaching staff etc.
He also said that he hopes Tom gets an extended run in the side now, so I'd say he's travelling just fine. I think he's just playing it down and making sure Mitchell keeps a lid on it, which maybe he hasn't done in the past?
Today's a draft of your epitaph
It may be that Horse takes questions about Mitchell's good performance as a criticism of himself for not playing him sooner. There's an implication that all the journo's were right about Mitchell when wondering why he was not getting a game and Horse was mistaken. That may be the reason for his tepid comments.
But Doctor, even in that quote, the coach is holding back, as if he doesn't really expect his run to continue. And I've followed Mitchell all career cos I saw him at the very start at training and his quality stood out even then. And there is not a more modest, stay in the background type at the Swans.
It just leaves me a bit bemused.
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