Player Watch Welcome to Hawthorn, Seamus Mitchell - Pick #29 2020 ND - extends to 2025! Round 17 Rising Star!

Fox footy had him ranked 34 best player on draft night. Damien Truslove said prior to the draft that he thought he would go 2nd or 3rd round based on the amount of interest and comments from clubs. Might have been a slight reach but he was not necessarily considered a late or rookie pick in all circles. Time will tell. Will probably be mid February before we see him in full group training with the ankle being worse than the knee (medial).
Was last seen in a moon boot at training today
 

dermott

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16 clubs enquired about him with his club. Seems there was a lot of interest in him which is surprising his modest performances to date. Is speed the new tall?

It would appear then that his selection may have only been a “reach” in the opinion of some Big Footy draft experts rather than AFL recruiters.
 

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he fumbles, doesnt like the contested side of footy and his tackling in many instances looks half hearted, very much an outisde player, maybe wing or crumber forward with little defensive ability in the same vein as Hanrahan imo, from what i have seen those are his weaknesses and play style, seems like we took a big risk with a pick where there was a dozen better players, hoping his acceleration can be a weapon?.

Speed is great but if you can't gather the ball at full tilt it is not worth s**t. Ollie is electric once he has gathered the footy but he has to slow to a walk to pick the thing up. Surely this is not unnoticed when we recruit.

From the 46 second highlight reel, Mitchell can still spot a target when he is going flat out. Can't recall Ollie having that sort of deft touch.
 

Davo-27

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Speed is great but if you can't gather the ball at full tilt it is not worth sh*t. Ollie is electric once he has gathered the footy but he has to slow to a walk to pick the thing up. Surely this is not unnoticed when we recruit.

From the 46 second highlight reel, Mitchell can still spot a target when he is going flat out. Can't recall Ollie having that sort of deft touch.

i was just answering someone asking what his weaknesses were, but im guessing the AFL recruiters are backing his strengths which is exciting acceleration and you can always work on ball handling skills with handball drills ect, so he should be right, he is more an outside player with good acceleration and can kick a nice goal.
 

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Norm Smith Medallist
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i was just answering someone asking what his weaknesses were, but im guessing the AFL recruiters are backing his strengths which is exciting acceleration and you can always work on ball handling skills with handball drills ect, so he should be right, he is more an outside player with good acceleration and can kick a nice goal.
Was not having a crack. After all we have Ollie on the list which disproves my point! If you do not have clean hands you gotta be unafraid of failure. Go flat out if you get it, you get it. Watched a game on Bathurst Island and they all played like that.

Josh Kennedy is not quick but never fumbles so he gains a yard. Harf was slow but, in form, his hands were sensational. Recall watching him at training and was amazed at how early he got his hands into position. Dunno if you can change ball handling much.
 

theiaofseed

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16 clubs enquired about him with his club. Seems there was a lot of interest in him which is surprising his modest performances to date. Is speed the new tall?
It's about projection, he didn't get to play this year and what he did show last year was the potential to have elite traits at AFL level. For the small amount of games he played it speaks volumes that he was noticed by so many clubs.

Also no idea where he fumbles is coming from, from the match I watched and video footage he's very clean.
 

Roby

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Was not having a crack. After all we have Ollie on the list which disproves my point! If you do not have clean hands you gotta be unafraid of failure. Go flat out if you get it, you get it. Watched a game on Bathurst Island and they all played like that.

Josh Kennedy is not quick but never fumbles so he gains a yard. Harf was slow but, in form, his hands were sensational. Recall watching him at training and was amazed at how early he got his hands into position. Dunno if you can change ball handling much.

Eddie Ford and Will Phillips are to cleanest players in this draft when picking the ball of the ground, never fumble.
 

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Norm Smith Medallist
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Just looking at where Mitchell fell in the draft. In the thirties there were four guys under 180cms and a couple of project rucks. That is raffle time for mine.

I do prefer Seamus over Poulter. Never seen either live. Poulter is way too outside for our needs. Ford looks interesting but he slipped a long way. Reckon he may lack a yard.

No doubting the speed on our lad. Worth watching his highlight reel just to see the chasers give up on him.
 

Roby

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Just looking at where Mitchell fell in the draft. In the thirties there were four guys under 180cms and a couple of project rucks. That is raffle time for mine.

I do prefer Seamus over Poulter. Never seen either live. Poulter is way too outside for our needs. Ford looks interesting but he slipped a long way. Reckon he may lack a yard.

No doubting the speed on our lad. Worth watching his highlight reel just to see the chasers give up on him.

Just like Worpel a few years ago... Players get this bsd stigma the nobody wants them.

Worpel for example in his draft year there were people who'd watched him play (including myself) who thought he was the best in his draft or at least top five. Some who'd watched in early 2017 thought he'd no drop no later than 20, as there was this "rumor" that he was a terrible kick.
 

Slick

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Hawthorn selected Mitchell because he was rated highly by our Recruiting team. Irving Mosquito is clear indication that we don't move away from our draft order.

With all due respect to the avid draft watchers on our board, they're giving their opinion on players, but everyone has an opinion and those opinions aren't gospel - and definitely shouldn't be taken as such.

I'm really excited to see this young bloke develop (once he gets out of the moon-boot).
 

Mojo

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Tackling pressure is a weakness of him at this stage but hopefully he will develop that skill very quickly!

Tackling pressure seems to be one of those traits that they either have or don't have - unfortunately, I can't remember too many players inadequate in that area and subsequently turned it into a strength, can you?

E.g. Poppy, Cyril, Breust, Wingard, etc, all innate exemplary tacklers from the get-go.
 
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