Mitchell: Rising Star

[Rod_]

Like everyone here, we have been waiting for a while for this impressive start

Who will miss when everyone is fit is a nice problem to have! (keeping all these players will be hard in a year or 2)

Well done Swans

Rod_

[liz]

He's not what I thought he'd be at all - ..

What were you expecting?

[ugg]

There was one piece of play in the first quarter which absolutely blew my mind. He took a mark on our half back flank, gave an ill-advised hospital handball to a running Malceski who spilled the ball under pressure from van Berlo. As the ball is lying on the deck, suddenly you see this red and white flash zoom in from the right of screen, dives on the ball and in one fell swoop got a handball to ROK for a clearing kick.

The speed at which the whole incident happened was so quick I don't think any other player from either side even realized what was going on.

There's little doubt he will get the nomination this round. The question is whether he can take the whole thing out. It's going to be very difficult giving Jaeger O'Meara 9 games head start; he would have to rack up the same kind of numbers as he did on Saturday for the rest of the year to stand a chance

[wolftone57]

His work by hand may be similar to Sam Mitchell...But he has a much, much stronger kick.

Yes Ernie and another difference is that he might not look quick, because he never seems to move but glide but he is deceptively quick. He is also very strong and already has the perfect build for AFL footy. His hand and foot skills are excellent and you are right he can really roost it.

[Melbournehammer]

having been away for the last two weeks i have managed to catch up on the essendon and adelaide games. i think he has had a very good start - one game in the wet and one in the dry. good hands and quick ones - which means that the step up has not been much faster than he is used to.

be interesting to see how he goes against one of the teams when our midfield is not quite as dominant.

[gossipcom]

There was one piece of play in the first quarter which absolutely blew my mind. He took a mark on our half back flank, gave an ill-advised hospital handball to a running Malceski who spilled the ball under pressure from van Berlo. As the ball is lying on the deck, suddenly you see this red and white flash zoom in from the right of screen, dives on the ball and in one fell swoop got a handball to ROK for a clearing kick.

The speed at which the whole incident happened was so quick I don't think any other player from either side even realized what was going on.

There's little doubt he will get the nomination this round. The question is whether he can take the whole thing out. It's going to be very difficult giving Jaeger O'Meara 9 games head start; he would have to rack up the same kind of numbers as he did on Saturday for the rest of the year to stand a chance

I remember that - his second, third and fourth efforts were fantastic in that particular instance.

[mcs]

There was one piece of play in the first quarter which absolutely blew my mind. He took a mark on our half back flank, gave an ill-advised hospital handball to a running Malceski who spilled the ball under pressure from van Berlo. As the ball is lying on the deck, suddenly you see this red and white flash zoom in from the right of screen, dives on the ball and in one fell swoop got a handball to ROK for a clearing kick.

The speed at which the whole incident happened was so quick I don't think any other player from either side even realized what was going on.

There's little doubt he will get the nomination this round. The question is whether he can take the whole thing out. It's going to be very difficult giving Jaeger O'Meara 9 games head start; he would have to rack up the same kind of numbers as he did on Saturday for the rest of the year to stand a chance

That was a cracking clean up job by Mitchell. He knows no bounds this kid, and he is a lovely mix of Jude Bolton/Brett Kirk hardness for the ball along with the useful ability to use the ball exceptionally well. He is a guaranteed star imo. The only downside I can see is that he will probably confirm that this will be Jude's last year - you just can't see how next year he will get a game in out top 22.

[ShockOfHair]

There was one piece of play in the first quarter which absolutely blew my mind. He took a mark on our half back flank, gave an ill-advised hospital handball to a running Malceski who spilled the ball under pressure from van Berlo. As the ball is lying on the deck, suddenly you see this red and white flash zoom in from the right of screen, dives on the ball and in one fell swoop got a handball to ROK for a clearing kick.

The speed at which the whole incident happened was so quick I don't think any other player from either side even realized what was going on.

I saw that on replay last night, had exactly the same reaction.

[giant]

What were you expecting?

Diminutive ball magnet, I guess I was expecting a Brent Harvey or Ben Cousins style - not the inside mid monster he appears to be from 1.5 games of senior footy.

- - - Updated - - -

What were you expecting?

Diminutive ball magnet, I guess I was expecting a Brent Harvey or Ben Cousins style - not the inside mid monster he appears to be from 1.5 games of senior footy.

[BSA5]

There was one piece of play in the first quarter which absolutely blew my mind. He took a mark on our half back flank, gave an ill-advised hospital handball to a running Malceski who spilled the ball under pressure from van Berlo. As the ball is lying on the deck, suddenly you see this red and white flash zoom in from the right of screen, dives on the ball and in one fell swoop got a handball to ROK for a clearing kick.

The speed at which the whole incident happened was so quick I don't think any other player from either side even realized what was going on.

Agreed. When I saw that, I turned to the guys I was watching with and said, "Woah, Mitchell, did you see that?" It was brilliant because, yes, he hesitated, which meant his handball was that fraction too late and the ball went loose. But rather than put his head down, he sprinted to the pack and cannonballed through, which is impressive enough, but the fact that he took the ball cleanly, twisted, and passed off perfectly to the one teammate who was clear, all in a single motion, was simply incredible.

It was a truly fantastic piece of play that demonstrated concentration, speed, strength, bravery, and skill, all wrapped up in one. If he'd only done that one thing the entire game, I'd still be happy with him.

[View from stand]

There was one piece of play in the first quarter which absolutely blew my mind. He took a mark on our half back flank, gave an ill-advised hospital handball to a running Malceski who spilled the ball under pressure from van Berlo. As the ball is lying on the deck, suddenly you see this red and white flash zoom in from the right of screen, dives on the ball and in one fell swoop got a handball to ROK for a clearing kick.

The speed at which the whole incident happened was so quick I don't think any other player from either side even realized what was going on.

There's little doubt he will get the nomination this round. The question is whether he can take the whole thing out. It's going to be very difficult giving Jaeger O'Meara 9 games head start; he would have to rack up the same kind of numbers as he did on Saturday for the rest of the year to stand a chance

The nine games start is not an issue as the Rising Star votes are not done the same as the Brownlow. There are a limited number of judges, who vote at the end of the season based on the performance over the season by the nominated players.

Given the attention span of many football journalists, good results at the end of the season would be more useful as they may remember that and vote accordingly.

However, I think Tom is something special and they might remember him anyway.

[stellation]

There was one piece of play in the first quarter which absolutely blew my mind. He took a mark on our half back flank, gave an ill-advised hospital handball to a running Malceski who spilled the ball under pressure from van Berlo. As the ball is lying on the deck, suddenly you see this red and white flash zoom in from the right of screen, dives on the ball and in one fell swoop got a handball to ROK for a clearing kick.

The speed at which the whole incident happened was so quick I don't think any other player from either side even realized what was going on.

Obviously this will be singled out in the team video review, but you can pretty much guarantee that there'll be junior coaches around the country talking about it to kids, too; it absolutely followed the old idea of "if you make a mistake don't drop your head, go and try to fix it".

I have no doubt that all our reserves players will have been shown that passage and told "this is what is expected of you".

[neilfws]

He'll get the nomination so no need to panic

Panic averted - Twitter / sydneyswans: Congratulations to Tom Mitchell, ...

[dimelb]

He's got it!

Mitchell gets Rising Star nomination - AFL.com.au

[Jewels]

So deserving, to back up his sensational debut with another brilliant game is simply amazing.
If he keeps this form up he would have to be a very big chance to take it out and I notice on Sportsbet that he is already second favourite behind O'meara in betting.

Speaking of betting I have just noticed that Hanners has snuck ahead of Jobe to be second favourite for Charlie.