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2016 Draft discussion

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Mitchell Hinge

The second youngest of six children – after John (30), Brett (28), Laura (24), Heyson (20) – and with little sister Melanie (16), Mitch Hinge hails from a 100-acre property in the South East of the state at Mundulla.


Like his brothers, football started the Mundulla Tigers in the expansive Kowree-Naracoorte-Tatiara league.

He also ventured down to Sacred Heart like the oldest brother John and they both also went to SANFL club, Glenelg.

After his high achieving schools football exploits older brother John was drafted to the Crows and played his one AFL game in 2006.

“While I was only eight at the time, I do remember going down to Adelaide to watch John make his AFL debut on a Friday night,” Mitch Hinge confirmed.

“He has been a good mentor to me and helped a lot.

“So has been Anthony Goodridge, our coach at Sacred Heart College and my Under 18s coach at Glenelg, Tyson Edwards.

“I started playing Junior Colts at Mundulla ta the age of 12 and also played a couple of season of senior colts, before coming to Sacred Heart.”

Hinge played in the Year 10A in his first season boarding at one of Adelaide premier football schools, but has been a consistent member of the first XVIII for the past two seasons.

He, like John enjoyed the prized All Schools knock out success, with Mitch being a part of the 2015 and 2016 victories at Norwood Oval.

“I started my schooling at Mundulla Primary and then went to Bordertown High in year 8 and 9, before I started boarding at Sacred Heart, Hinge continued.

“I only played a few games for Glenelg at under 16s level, and did think I performed that well.

“I came out to play under 18s at the Bays, along with my college and state commitments and felt the Grand Final was one of my stronger performances.

“This is the first year I’ve really played in defence, previously it has been as a forward or through the middle.

“I get a lot of support from my parents, Rick and Lynette, who would come up nearly every week to watch me.

“When I was younger I would constantly drag my mum and little sister outside to kick the footy with me.”

Brenton Phillips’ thoughts on Mitchell:

“Mitchell has developed strongly in 2016.

“He has got to love his physical attack on the ball.

“Being a good kick and a left footer is also an advantage it seems these days.

“Mitchell can also play in a range of roles.

“At the nationals, we (SA) used his off half back and in the All Stars game, he played on ball.

“Last year he played up forward.”

AFL Players with similar traits and strengths:

Matt Suckling/ Darcy Byrne-Jones
 

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will be disappointed if we don't take Ryan (if available) with our last. like the Barrett selection and know zero about the Hinge, anyone?
 

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Oscar McInerney
Excellent choice, some rated him 30+ in the main draft.
Big bodied ruckman

Cal Twomey: 'It was a bit of a surprise he was overlooked at the national draft'.

Overall, we should be really pleased with our drafting all round.
Barrett is a very good player and has been in the system for a few years.
Hinge looks like he has the qualities that meets Fagan's game plan &
McInerney is the big ruckman (204cm) that has developed and is ready to go
 
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Oscar McInerney

Oscar McInerney had a goal for 2016 that he only just reached by playing in the Casey Scorpions’ Peter Jackson VFL Grand Final loss to Footscray.

The 203cm ruckman arrived at Casey Fields this year from Montrose in the Eastern Football League and aspired to break through for six senior VFL games. He cut it fine by only establishing himself in the minor premiership-winning team from the final round of the home-and-away season, but managed to achieve what he knew what would be an ambitious target with selection in the season’s decider.

It put the icing on the cake of a season in which 22-year-old McInerney won the A.Todd Medal for the best and fairest player in the Development League and impressed at least two AFL clubs enough to receive an invite to the recent Victorian State Combine.

He recorded a level 12.8 beep test and 3.31-second 20m sprint in Combine testing and was interviewed by elite-level clubs at Etihad Stadium little more than a year since plying his trade at local level.

McInerney couldn’t have imagined how quickly his plan to play at the highest level he could – implemented with the help of Montrose coach and former Hawthorn, Carlton and Williamstown player Brett Johnson – would take off.

“Midway through last year, I said to Brett that I want to give it (higher-level football) a red-hot crack,” McInerney said.

“‘Johnno’ was amazing. I couldn’t thank him enough for my development in two years of senior football at Montrose under his reign. He helped me sort out a plan and how to get there.

“He had the knowledge from 70 AFL games, set the standards for us and put in time with watching vision of games. He brought a professional environment to a local football club.”

McInerney’s form during 2015 saw him field calls from multiple VFL clubs wanting to secure his services. He chose to sign with the Scorpions because he thought their development program would give him the best opportunity of playing senior football.

“I was pretty realistic though; I knew it was going to be tough,” McInerney said.

“I looked at Melbourne’s list and they were pretty strong. You’ve sort of got to wait for your turn and then make sure you make it count. I probably set the goal of six VFL games at the start of the season and I knew that was going to be a pretty hard feat.

“I wanted to set my goals pretty high. That was probably one thing ‘Johnno’ drove at Montrose: You always play footy to get the best out of yourself, so why not have a crack at the best?”

McInerney played his first senior game in Round 3 against Williamstown’s four-time VFL Team of the Year ruckman Nick Meese before having to wait his turn in the Development League again.

In the meantime, he polled enough votes to claim the A.Todd Medal on VFL Best and Fairest night – an event McInerney said he was surprised he even received an invite to.

The reward for his patience was another senior berth in Round 18, when he seized an opportunity presented by an injury to Jake Spencer with 15 disposals, 27 hitouts, seven tackles and a goal in a win against Essendon.

That break-out game was followed by four more senior matches from Round 21 through to Casey’s Grand Final appearance, including an important two-goal cameo in a rematch with Meese and the Seagulls in the preliminary final.

“Jake Spencer and I were able to double-team him (Meese) effectively, hopefully run him around and burn his legs,” McInerney said.

“One of my strengths is my running power... and I definitely tried to out-run opponents this year. Especially against the big boys who couldn’t run but could out-muscle me, you just had to find a string to your bow that was different to them.

“(Senior coach) Justin Plapp and (Football Operations Manager) George Morgan sat down with me and highlighted bits of (Adelaide AFL ruckman) Sam Jacobs’ play that they liked, because he plays like a midfielder with his running power. Ruckmen now have to be able to pick the ball off the ground and play like that fourth on-baller.”

McInerney knows he still needs to work on his strength in ruck contests and reading of the play if he joins the elite-level ranks at the AFL Draft on November 25 or Rookie Draft on November 28.

But his achievements since deciding to give it a “red-hot crack” last year would indicate anything is possible if he runs hard enough toward his goals.
 

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I'd really like us to take Jake Barrett in the rookie draft. Always seemed to be on the cusp of selection for the Giants, but very hard to break into that midfield.

Swish!

I've seen him play a couple of NEAFL games. Looked very much capable of playing a level above.

Three years of development behind him, he's an excellent option to have if a first choice midfielder gets an LTI. And sadly past experience suggests that's pretty much certain.
 

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