Player Watch Welcome to Hawthorn: Mitchell Lewis. Extended to 2026!

[MrPremiership]

Gets caught behind his man far too often

 

[Roger Rogerson]

Watch Jeka at Box Hill. He is in front every time. He is a natural forward. He has craft. His challenge at AFL level is that defenders lock down with early contact which doesn't happen anywhere near the same degree at VFL level. He isn't yet strong enough to push an AFL defender around. But when he is ready he is going to be a super player.

Lewis is not a natural forward. Really he is nothing much more than what Sam Grimley was as a project player. Whoever above mentioned about his physique is spot on - he is still physically weak and perhaps won't be strong enough to bash and crash as his playing style suggests. He just doesn't find the ball anywhere near enough. Used to have patches in games which hinted he might be able to put it all together but I haven't seen many patches at all this year. But we are a terrible terrible side with really poor mids so it would be foolish to write him off yet.

But we do need to fit Jeka into the side asap.

 

[eldorado]

Try him down back, where playing from behind might be a benefit.

He might even be able to confuse the opposition mids by gesturing for them to bomb it long onto his head...

 

[CobberRodgers]

Watch Jeka at Box Hill. He is in front every time. He is a natural forward. He has craft. His challenge at AFL level is that defenders lock down with early contact which doesn't happen anywhere near the same degree at VFL level. He isn't yet strong enough to push an AFL defender around. But when he is ready he is going to be a super player.

Lewis is not a natural forward. Really he is nothing much more than what Sam Grimley was as a project player. Whoever above mentioned about his physique is spot on - he is still physically weak and perhaps won't be strong enough to bash and crash as his playing style suggests. He just doesn't find the ball anywhere near enough. Used to have patches in games which hinted he might be able to put it all together but I haven't seen many patches at all this year. But we are a terrible terrible side with really poor mids so it would be foolish to write him off yet.

But we do need to fit Jeka into the side asap.

I’m not sure how it’s possible, but has he lost muscle mass and general size in the last 2 years? Almost starting to look like a small Spider Burton.

 

[Tuck In]

I don't him at all and am watching from a distance but he seems passive/reactive with very little energy. Question to those who watch him live/at training, is this the norm?

 

[burner1]

He’s down on form and confidence but still gets the best defender every week and players dropping off into his space. Opposition teams seem to rate him more than fans do. I note Kosi hasn’t been any better (basically unsighted vs suns).

 

[Toasted]

He’s down on form and confidence but still gets the best defender every week and players dropping off into his space. Opposition teams seem to rate him more than fans do. I note Kosi hasn’t been any better (basically unsighted vs suns).

Yeah, need more from both but our style and delivery isn’t doing them any favours. I’m feeling for both these boys at the moment.

 

[Jazzfan]

I'm not certain he is all that happy in the role he is being asked to play, or the way in which he is coached.

I think recruiting Patton had a much bigger impact on Lewis then what has been considered. Despite a super promising 2019, we chased a mature key forward and the feedback Lewis received was probably too much around what he needs to improve to be a regular. Patton was the planned number one option. Lewis was told to work on deficiencies, and then got injured during pre-season.

Ideally I would love to have seen this burn Lewis, but some personalities just need to feel the faith and positive reinforcement from a coach. Some will be old school, and say toughen up, I probably say it's on the coach to adapt to different personalities in bringing the most out of a player.

 

[bris tarangau]

Hope he can turn around this downturn in form and put in a better effort in the second half of the season.

 

[savagelunchbox]

That good end of season patch of form from a couple of years ago is beginning to look a lot like a red herring.

Still is weak below his shoulders and showing no signs of improvement.
Still showing a give-up mentality in that once he gets behind or beat, he gives up.

Only time he's looked AFL standard is when he's been able to lead up to the HBF where he's had space and doesn't need to mark above his head. This doesn't suit Clarko's KPF strategy. Would be interesting to see what was offered if he was put on the market in a window shopping type thing.

 

[Hodginator]

I don’t even know what to do with this

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

 

[CHUBBSS]

Tom Browne is the equivalent of poo simple as that

 

[cryptor]

I don’t even know what to do with this

It's not that unreasonable when you think about it. AFLPA is there to protect the players interests and if a player has suffered a concussion and missed games ($$$) as a result of a training mishap then it's not unreasonable for them to flag it for an investigation. They'd be wanting to ensure that reasonable precautions were taken for player safety and it wasn't just a case of Angry Alastair telling the players to glove up and beat the s**t out of each other to rev them up, or some sort of bullying incident.

It sounds ludicrous but just look at things like Adelaide's pre-season camp and Brisbane's bullying culture under Rockcliff.

They'll investigate, they'll find the club takes player safety seriously, and that this was just an unfortunate accident.

 

[Brishawk]

Tob > Lewis

come at me

But more seriously, Lewis needs to get his effort to the same level as tob. Can clunk a mark but doesn’t do enough else at this point. I’m sure he will get another opportunity but with Kosi showing a lot and jeka coming hard and callow now on the list, the competition is such that if he doesn’t put it together he will end up off of the list.

 

[B&GBlood]

Loading up on promising talls might mean we can swap for some quality mid types come trade time.

 

[Roddy]

Tob > Lewis

And so he should be, at this point. He is 5 years older, has been on our list 5 years longer and has played triple the number of games Lewis has.

 

[TylerDurden]

 

[The Chad and I]

Trade him to Collingwood for a second round pick.
Jeka, Kosi, Callow forward line will suffice.

 

[Brant]

Trade him to Collingwood for a second round pick.
Jeka, Kosi, Callow forward line will suffice.

We already have Collingwood's 2nd Round Pick & we get to keep Lewis!

#winning

 

[TazHawk15]

Tob > Lewis

come at me

But more seriously, Lewis needs to get his effort to the same level as tob. Can clunk a mark but doesn’t do enough else at this point. I’m sure he will get another opportunity but with Kosi showing a lot and jeka coming hard and callow now on the list, the competition is such that if he doesn’t put it together he will end up off of the list.

You won’t get me coming at you.

I have been saying it for 18 months now, Lewis will be delisted material if he can’t get some intent in his game.

 

[grumbleguts]

You won’t get me coming at you.

Especially with that cough and slight temperature.

 

[Bardo State]

I'm still on the bandwagon. 30 games in, consistently hitting the scoreboard. Rough form over the last month for sure. If Kosi (or god forbid Jeka or Callow) had taken Lewis' opponent in the games they were playing together, I honestly think people on this forum would be asking the club to give up on Kosi as a forward.

Needs to take more uncontested marks mainly.

 

[Roddy]

I still have hope, but he needs to get a wriggle on, as I've said previously, Kosi is now clearly ahead of him, he has Jeka and now Callow snapping at his heels, and I doubt very much he'll be given the excruciating latitude and patience TOB has been given.....

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Watch Jeka at Box Hill. He is in front every time. He is a natural forward. He has craft. His challenge at AFL level is that defenders lock down with early contact which doesn't happen anywhere near the same degree at VFL level. He isn't yet strong enough to push an AFL defender around. But when he is ready he is going to be a super player.

Lewis is not a natural forward. Really he is nothing much more than what Sam Grimley was as a project player. Whoever above mentioned about his physique is spot on - he is still physically weak and perhaps won't be strong enough to bash and crash as his playing style suggests. He just doesn't find the ball anywhere near enough. Used to have patches in games which hinted he might be able to put it all together but I haven't seen many patches at all this year. But we are a terrible terrible side with really poor mids so it would be foolish to write him off yet.

But we do need to fit Jeka into the side asap.

Lewis has more than enough size to crash a pack. Just dont think he has it in him. Way too nice. Kosi looks set for an AFL career, but we do need two more of Lewis, Callow and Jeka.