Tom Mitchell

[AnnieH]

Yep

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Speaking of the 'NDH policy', and those who believe in that rubbish, why are so many Swans fans ok with Gaff coming on board?

I am but I think the NDH policy thing is a joke.

Surely those who want only pristine players at the Swans don't want Gaff because of
1. The punch.
2. WC player.

Sinkers is a WC ex-player, so it's not that.
Gaff is a dickhead BECAUSE of the punch... he was a brownlow favourite before that.
I'd put a bet on that he's learned his lesson.

[caj23]

The opportunity excuse is a load of bollocks.

He'd have had all the midfield time he wanted at the Swans and there's every chance that he'd have won a Brownlow if he'd stayed. The fact is he went for more cash, its as simple as that. He has form in that area given he made us pay him big $'s as a first year draftee in order to accept our F/S nomination.

[Ludwig]

The opportunity excuse is a load of bollocks.

He'd have had all the midfield time he wanted at the Swans and there's every chance that he'd have won a Brownlow if he'd stayed. The fact is he went for more cash, its as simple as that. He has form in that area given he made us pay him big $'s as a first year draftee in order to accept our F/S nomination.

There's a lot of truth in this. As a 23 yo and someone who is playing every game, he shouldn't be dictating where the coach should play him. He was playing in the midfield. Perhaps he wanted some more time on ball. But this would seem an unreasonable and uncommon demand for a player this early in his career. To leave simply to play on ball most of the time at the Hawks as opposed to rotating on ball with a powerful midfield group, somehow doesn't ring true.

As is pointed out, Tom was more than fairly compensated over his time as a Swan. He could have accepted a more modest contract for a couple of years perhaps, and see what kind of money would be available once the new broadcast deal was completed. There is nothing to say that he could not have renegotiated his contract at the end of 2017. So it seems, at some level of examination, that he acted quite mercenary in his move to Hawthorn.

Because the narrative surrounding Tom's move to Hawthorn seems a bit curious, I've never totally bought into the public discourse. As the story was unfolding in 2016, I posted many comments that I believed the Swans were pushing Tom out the door and were using the salary cap squeeze as a cover. I still think there is something to this, if for no other reason that it is so rare that the Swans lose a quality player that they really want to keep. How much of Tom's trade to Hawthorn is do to his wanting to leave for a better something and how much is do to the Swans pushing him out the door may never be disclosed. The Swans, especially under Harley, like to control the narrative.

[0918330512]

It's a very similar situation to Kennedy, except that Kennedy was far less established in the senior team. And Kennedy has blossomed in his time at the Swans as Mitchell has started to so at the Hawks. Indeed, although Kennedy doesn't have a Brownlow to his name, Mitchell still has a long way to go to achieve the same level of performance, consistency and achievement that Kennedy has at the Swans.

I’d say his league record disposals and Brownlow this year and his disposal tally last year and AA selection doesn’t have him having that far to go in any of those categories when compared to Joey

[Blood Fever]

I’d say his league record disposals and Brownlow this year and his disposal tally last year and AA selection doesn’t have him having that far to go in any of those categories when compared to Joey

His sheer weight of numbers is very impressive but I liken him to Matt Priddis who didn't hurt teams, in my opinion, as much as Josh Kennedy has over the years. Josh's power and ability to feed other players in tight has been awesome.

[liz]

I’d say his league record disposals and Brownlow this year and his disposal tally last year and AA selection doesn’t have him having that far to go in any of those categories when compared to Joey

Kennedy arrived at the Swans for the start of the 2010 season and immediately made an impact, becoming an integral part of the midfield. By 2012 he was unquestionably one of the premier onballers in the competition and has sustained that ever since (with 2018 the one "down year" he has had, and I believe he had hardly any preseason this year based on my observations of preseason training). He has been named in the AA team three times and was in the squad another couple of times, he has captained his side, he has won a premiership with his team (and won the B&F that year by a record margin). He has seven top three finishes in the club B&F, including three wins.

He has polled over 20 votes in the Brownlow three times (and another year polled 19). And he's achieved that in a team with plenty of high performing team mates to take votes off him. He was also voted the best player in the finals (competition wide) in 2016 and did pretty much everything in his powers to get his team over the line in that grand final, a game where too many of his experience team mates either carried injuries into the game or got themselves injured during the game.


Mitchell got very high disposal numbers last year but, IMO, wasn't overly effective in many games, admittedly in a team with little support. After he won this year's MVP award he spoke about how he'd taken the criticism of his effectiveness on board and worked on that over the off-season. To his credit, it was an aspect of his game he really advanced in 2018 and I think he is worthy of this year's Brownlow off the back of his impact in games, not his raw disposal counts. But if the Hawks are going to improve as a side, they need to balance their midfield a little so that Mitchell doesn't regularly rack up 40+ disposals. If he can remain as effective over the next two to three seasons and keep performing at around the same level (not necessarily winning the Brownlow every year), and become an integral (but not dominant) part in Hawthorn becoming a challenger again, then he'll deserve to be compared to Kennedy.

As I said, he has some way to go yet (but looks capable of it).