Sam Mitchell vs Jason Akermanis

[Procrastinator35]

I find it strange despite the biased ramblings of one hawthorn supporter that Sam Mitchell only won one Brownlow, no MVPs or AFLCA trophy, and none of his best and fairests came in a premiership year for his club.


Was Sam Mitchell a great player? Undoubtedly. Was he better than Akermanis? That’s subjective depending on what you want. Both had superb careers and were superb players. Was Sam Mitchell so much better than Aker to warrant the shit one hawks supporter is dribbling? No

4 seasons at the Dogs....One bog average & the last utterly forgettable.

Terry Wallace had a better renaissance at the Dogs than did Acker, comprising 2 Best & Fairests in his time there as a 30-something, & he wasn't half the centre-man Sammy was.

Mitchell won 5 best & fairests in a dynasty era, choc full of champion players around him....That's just how good he was.

Posters get carried away by the razzamattaz & antics of Acker....That's all.....Merely symbolic of this generation more than anything else, where substance & true grit are ignored for the shinny goblet.

 

[beta_condition]

I find it strange despite the biased ramblings of one hawthorn supporter that Sam Mitchell only won one Brownlow, no MVPs or AFLCA trophy, and none of his best and fairests came in a premiership year for his club.


Was Sam Mitchell a great player? Undoubtedly. Was he better than Akermanis? That’s subjective depending on what you want. Both had superb careers and were superb players. Was Sam Mitchell so much better than Aker to warrant the shit one hawks supporter is dribbling? No

Mitchell finished top 3 in every Premiership year other than 2014 when he missed 1/3 of the season, finished 9 times in the top 3, in fact 2014 was the only year between 2004-2016 he didn't finish in the top 5. Most clearances of all time and the second most Brownlow votes of all time. It's cut and dry who was the better play, Akermanis just scraps into the top ten players at Birsbane last decade, while Mitchell sits comfortably at number one for Hawthorn.

 

[Monkey King]

... Akermanis just scraps into the top ten players at Birsbane last decade

Just out of curiosity, who are your top 10?

 

[beta_condition]

Just out of curiosity, who are your top 10?

These are players I;d have head of Akermanis, Lappin, Leppitsch, Mal Michael, Black, Lynch, Brown, Voss

 

[juss]

These two are very different style of players. One was a goalkicking mid/half forward with pace while the other hardly had a shot at goal and lacked any great athleticism but was so smart with his positioning and movement to overcome this.

About the only comparable thing is they were both brilliant skilled off both feet.

I'm going with Aker simply due to his greater match winning ability and ability to pull something from nothing.
Mitchell probably more reliable and consistent though.

 

[Procrastinator35]

I'm going with Aker simply due to his greater match winning ability and ability to pull something from nothing.
Mitchell probably more reliable and consistent though.

A moments brilliance - aka Cyril - does not compare to an entire game s worth of busting a gut, while keeping your side in it, by barely wasting a possession.

It's comments like these that are fully symbolic of posters missing the big picture & point here entirely.

Acker could finish off for sure, but by the time his career has finished, Luke Breust will have kicked more goals than him, as a small forward....Next you'll all be saying Breust is a better player than Sammy.

Gary Buckenara was a better player than Acker & he isn't in Sammy's champion elite status either.

 

[juss]

A moments brilliance - aka Cyril - does not compare to an entire game s worth of busting a gut, while keeping your side in it, by barely wasting a possession.

It's comments like these that are fully symbolic of posters missing the big picture & point here entirely.

Acker could finish off for sure, but by the time his career has finished, Luke Breust will have kicked more goals than him, as a small forward....Next you'll all be saying Breust is a better player than Sammy.

Gary Buckenara was a better player than Acker & he isn't in Sammy's champion elite status either.

No, Bruest isnt in the same high status as Aker, nor is Cyril.

Il keep my own opinions thanks. Aker was a match winner and could play 4 quarters too. He wasn't a flash in the pan player.

 

[Pessimistic]

Biggest knock on Mitch is sme of his finals weren’t that spectacular, but we don’t know what his instructions were.

Early career it was the tag team with Sewell which got into opposition teams. Later on it was Mitch’s experience bringing others into the game

 

[Pessimistic]

no offense but the bulk of people voting will do so because Akermanis was on another level entirely to Sam Mitchell.
He was a match-winning high stakes performer.

Sam Mitchell is a lot closer to the class of Scott Pendlebury.

Akermanis stood out in a midfield that had Black, Voss, Lappin and Power. Three of which would be walk up starters overtaking any starting midfielder of Hawthorn's team 2008-2015.

The Hawthorn and even Geelong teams relied on systems so much more than the lions

 

[Procrastinator35]

Biggest knock on Mitch is sme of his finals weren’t that spectacular, but we don’t know what his instructions were.

Early career it was the tag team with Sewell which got into opposition teams. Later on it was Mitch’s experience bringing others into the game

Garbage.....Do some research.

Mitchell has the best finals record of all Hawk players throughout our entire history.....Matthews, Knights & Hodge included.

He was heavily tagged in Grand Finals & suffers by comparison because of that alone.

 

[ManOfClay]

So what you are saying is Mitchell wasn’t as good in grand finals as his legacy suggests?

 

[Pessimistic]

Garbage.....Do some research.

Mitchell has the best finals record of all Hawk players throughout our entire history.....Matthews, Knights & Hodge included.

He was heavily tagged in Grand Finals & suffers by comparison because of that alone.

SOME of his finals. but he absorbed the tag and freed others. The team game. As ai mentioned before both Hawthorn and Geelong great teams were system based rather than the Lions who were basically the globetrotters playing footy

No team playing that way is strong today though, and not even AKER could help the Doggies against the Hawks on 08 finals

 

[Procrastinator35]

SOME of his finals. but he absorbed the tag and freed others. The team game. As ai mentioned before both Hawthorn and Geelong great teams were system based rather than the Lions who were basically the globetrotters playing footy

No team playing that way is strong today though, and not even AKER could help the Doggies against the Hawks on 08 finals

Sammy was tagged in the Grand Finals of 2008, 2012 & 2013 by all of Ling, O'Keefe & Crowley, precisely because he had been our best & most influential player in the 2 previous finals before-hand in all of those years.

In 2014 he was stiff to miss out on the Norm Smith & was the equal to Hodgey that day.....His 2015 Grand Final was also quite good.

 

[Procrastinator35]

So what you are saying is Mitchell wasn’t as good in grand finals as his legacy suggests?

What I'm saying is that Acker couldn't hold a candle to Sammy's high-end consistency of performance in games that mattered the most.....Mind you, not many can.

 

[Pessimistic]

Sammy was tagged in the Grand Finals of 2008, 2012 & 2013 by all of Ling, O'Keefe & Crowley, precisely because he had been our best & most influential player in the 2 previous finals before-hand in all of those years.

In 2014 he was stiff to miss out on the Norm Smith & was the equal to Hodgey that day.....His 2015 Grand Final was also quite good.

But of course I know that.

 

[Procrastinator35]

But of course I know that.

So then you'll also recognise that Hodge was not the subject of a tag in any of those Grand Finals.....That alone tells you whom the opposition saw as the central component to our success.....It aint rocket-science.

 

[ROOINYOU]

tough one...
Mitchell just.
Aker was a match winner though and loved his game!

 

[Pessimistic]

They are both in that echelon just down a rung from the all time champions

 

[MinerBoy]

As good as Aker was, Mitchell was the better player. Aker was electric with the things he could do but game to game, week to week and year to year it isn't even that close to be honest. Mitchell.

 

[Pessimistic]

Mitch is your classic underrated while playing and over rated after. AKER the other way round?

 

[RonnieRaven]

Sam mongrel on my team
Aker to watch

 

[hk89]

Loved watching Aker when he was at his best, also loved that he wasn't afraid to show a bit of personality on the field.

Something to keep in mind is that while they both won a Brownlow each, Aker won his with 23 votes. If that was enough to win every year, Sam would have been a triple Brownlow medalist, instead of just having the one, outscoring Aker's maximum of 23 in 3 separate years. Sam more than doubled Aker's career Brownlow votes, although you'd have to say Aker's work up forward made it harder for him to accumulate Brownlow votes at the rate Mitchell did. Aker's Brownlow , while not one of the higher totals, should get some extra bonus kudos given the Brisbane midfield he was competing against for votes.

While Aker was brilliant to watch, who you vote for in this poll seems to be mostly about wether you put more weight on consistently being at a high level or the heights you reach when at your mercurial best. I went with consistency, but probably because it suited my club bias. Very hard to compare two players with such different attributes.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Loved watching Aker when he was at his best, also loved that he wasn't afraid to show a bit of personality on the field.

Something to keep in mind is that while they both won a Brownlow each, Aker won his with 23 votes. If that was enough to win every year, Sam would have been a triple Brownlow medalist, instead of just having the one, outscoring Aker's maximum of 23 in 3 separate years. Sam more than doubled Aker's career Brownlow votes, although you'd have to say Aker's work up forward made it harder for him to accumulate Brownlow votes at the rate Mitchell did. Aker's Brownlow , while not one of the higher totals, should get some extra bonus kudos given the Brisbane midfield he was competing against for votes.

While Aker was brilliant to watch, who you vote for in this poll seems to be mostly about wether you put more weight on consistently being at a high level or the heights you reach when at your mercurial best. I went with consistency, but probably because it suited my club bias. Very hard to compare two players with such different attributes.

Lets be honest here....Ackers Brownlow win is very much in the same wheel-house as the Shane Woewoeful brownlow win.....If Acker didn't have that peroxide, attention-whoring rinse through that ugly mug of his, then there would be no brownlow medal draped around his neck.

Lets call a spade a spade, shall we!

 

[hk89]

Lets be honest here....Ackers Brownlow win is very much in the same wheel-house as the Shane Woewoeful brownlow win.....If Acker didn't have that peroxide, attention-whoring rinse through that ugly mug of his, then there would be no brownlow medal draped around his neck.

Lets call a spade a spade, shall we!

While you might be right, those things that drew attention to him were part of what I liked about Aker. Everyone complains that players have no personality these days and are increasingly coached to act like robots both on and off the field, but then when someone bucks the trend they get labelled attention whores. I guess I'd like to see more attention whores and less robots Sammy certainly wasn't afraid to play the clown on field as shown by his jab-jab at the bombers and feigned head duck at Selwood.

 

[Leeda]

catching my breath with these two.. they are dynamic, they are hanging on to the pace of the last fifteen years.. and more.. or less..