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For some reason I think they have him earmarked as a tall defender. Not sure why.
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He had observed that people who did lie were, on the whole, more resourceful and ambitious and successful than people who did not lie. -
Have we forgotten Patrick Mitchell? We actually have 4 developing ruckmen. I think Mitchell will play in defence a lot this year. The big 3 defenders will be X, Aliir and Mitchell. Perhaps Toby will play mostly forward and Tom and Sam share most of the ruck duties, as they are closest to a pure ruckman of the 4, and think they would be the 2 vying for main backup to Pyke, so they will need to be ready.Comment
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Has anyone here actually seen Mitchell play? I hope I am proved wrong but I'd say he is very very long odds to make it in the AFL. Truth is we just got lucky with Mike Pyke, we are a bit deluded if we see ourselves as some sort of magicians converting international players (OK I know there is Tadgh as well but quire a few Irish players have made it). So, I'm glad we are not relying on him.
My point is, and it's all water under the bridge of course, that we should have recruited an experienced Ruckman in the trade period and that would have given us another pick in the ND as we'd have three rucks and that would be enough. The upside is we may get two good rucks with up to 10 years in front of them and either (a) have no ruck worries for 10 years or (b) get some serious trade bait in a coupe of years time.
It will be a balancing act getting both these blokes up to the plate but hopefully one that is worth it. Derrickxx I have written off already (harsh I know) but how do you give him the game time to be able to fill in as an emergency whilst still developing the other two?Comment
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I would think that is exactly why they recruited him: as an emergency if Pyke goes down. They clearly don't expect the youing blokes and Mitchell to play in 2014.At least Derrickx is a mature age footballer.
The again we could have rookied Jolly or Cameron Wood. Both experienced ruckmen.Comment
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Of course no one has ever seen Mitchell play. We all know that he's never played footy before. I don't know exactly how many international recruits we've drafted over the years, but it's not that many. And to get a Kennelly and a Pyke out that is pretty good and worth the experiment, and not really such long odds at all. In fact, I would think that the success rate for drafting an international rookie is better than for a regular rookie spot, especially the last rookie spot on the list, because you can look at it as forfeiting your list pick in the regular rookie draft.
Whether we RWOers are delusional may be worth a thread in its own right, but I don't think the likes of Roos, Longmire and Beatson are delusional about such matters, at least I would hope not. They seem to think it's worth a go. I don't imagine they would have drafted Mitchell if they didn't give him a fair chance of success.Comment
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Clearly they see something in him but if he makes it then it will far far exceed Mike Pyke's story.
All I am saying is that he is a long long way behind the other three ruckman (for starters he hasn't played a senior game of senior footy) so I really don't think we should be factoring him in to any ruckman solution.
Having said that, I look forward to popping along early on match day to track his progress. I always thought Sheeds was an absolute fruitloop (and still do) but he has long predicted that we would may a huge foray into North America - if basketballers from the American college system are able to quickly transition then it may open the floodgates. Personally I can't see it happening due to the fact that basketball has no footskills, unlike Gaelic football and rugby which is where our only notable code hoppers have come from. Trying to control a sherrin in your 20 having never kicked a footy before is a huge ask. Also the endurance aspect, having to gut run when you are used to a basketball court and all the breaks and stoppages that are in basketball.Comment
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Certainly the foray into America is a different kettle of fish than Ireland and it may take some time to work it out. But you would imagine that the sheer size of the market of athletes who can't make the NBA or NFL is huge. The AFL is doing its best to find the talent by running those combines in the U.S., and I think Mitchell was one of them. St. Kilda drafted another of the 3 the Swans got over here in Holmes.
If you listen closely to the Tom Derickx interview on the Swans website he mentions that Mitchell has a tremendous leap.
I remember watching the video with Alex Starling and Paul Roos and was very impressed by his skill-set (Starling's not Roos', although Paul wasn't too bad in his day). His kicking looked very good, which surprised me for a basketball player.
It must cost a fair bit of change to get these Americans over here and then give them a 2 year contract, so they must have seen something they liked about Pat Mitchell. I'm looking forward to the preseason games and hope we get to see him play a bit.Comment
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Brogan, tony shaw, pendlebury, Tippett paul roos. Been plenty of code hoppers from basketball that have cut it in the afl. Far more than rugby or gaelicYou don't ban those who supported your opponent, you make them wallow in their loserdom by covering your victory! You sit them in the front row. You give them a hat! Toby ZieglerComment
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No non-Aussie basketballers on the list.....Comment
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Reggi the difference is all of those players you mention were brought up on Aussie Rules, player junior footy, tried basketball and returned to Aussie Rules. No comparison, Mitchell had not heard of Aussie Rules until the combine. By the way it is a little ingenuous putting Tony Shaw's name there he has only ever played basketball on a social level to keep fit in the summer. All the Shaws are from a long tradition of Aussie Rules at Collingwood.Last edited by wolftone57; 30 November 2013, 10:10 AM.Comment
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