Who gets the job on Tom Mitchell?

[one-eyed]

Who gets Mitchell? Young Tiger in the firing line

Jason Phelan,
AAP
Apr 4, 2018

RICHMOND star Jack Riewoldt has backed young teammate Jack Graham to help negate the influence of Hawthorn prime mover Tom Mitchell.

The Tigers face the unbeaten Hawks on Sunday at the MCG and must form an effective strategy to combat the in-form midfielder.

Mitchell has appeared near-unstoppable with 54 possessions in round one against Collingwood and 40 disposals and two goals on Easter Monday against Geelong.

Richmond are coming off a disappointing loss in the Grand Final rematch against Adelaide, but Riewoldt believes Graham is up to the daunting task.

"We might put someone on (Mitchell) in different aspects of the game ... we've had a young kid that's played pretty good footy on the big stage against (star) opponents," Riewoldt told Fox Footy.

"Graham played well in the Grand Final on Rory Sloane, but it's going to be a great challenge for us off a pretty poor performance.

"If he's the one to go with him, then I think he can (curb him).

"He's got a phenomenal work ethic, but I think it's going to take more than one player to stop Tom Mitchell and the performances he's putting in at the moment."

The Tigers have their own one-man wrecking crew in Dustin Martin, but Riewoldt poured cold water on the suggestion the Brownlow Medal winner would go head to head in a tantalising match-up with Mitchell.

"I don't think we'll see that," he said.

"I think clubs are trying to curtail the best players.

"I don't think you can let those guys run around (free) because, if you do, they end up with 50 touches and impacting on a level where you can't catch up."

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-04-04/who-gets-mitchell-young-tiger-in-the-firing-line

[Tigeritis™©®]

If Reece is playing maybe he can take Mitchel out of the game in the first five minutes. Then Reece gets weeks from the match review or injures himself again and it’s a win win for everyone.   

[lamington]

Graham would be a good match up. I think Prestia did some tagging last year also?

[Diocletian]

If Reece is playing maybe he can take Mitchel out of the game in the first five minutes. Then Reece gets weeks from the match review or injures himself again and it’s a win win for everyone.   

I fully endorse this strategy.

[Slipper]

Because Mitchell gets so much of the footy, I'd be tempted to through someone on him as a learning experience at some stage during the game.

I'd give Graham first crack, and if we got comfortably in front, someone like Corey Ellis as a learning experience.

TBH, I'd like to throw the job to Higgins, but I doubt that will happen.

[¾ T!geɹ]

No real need to shut him down (simply because you probably can't), but negating any effect he has on the game by being at the drop of the ball and shut him down there would be more effective. He is a ball magnet yes, but still fairly predictable when disposing of it, and our players are good enough to stop any influence he has by doing this.
I'm not sure Graham could win the battle, but as mentioned, Prestia could have a fairly good crack at it.

If all of that goes to poo, as mentioned by Tigeritis™©® - Plan B = REECE 

[Slipper]

No real need to shut him down (simply because you probably can't), but negating any effect he has on the game by being at the drop of the ball and shut him down there would be more effective. He is a ball magnet yes, but still fairly predictable when disposing of it, and our players are good enough to stop any influence he has by doing this.

Exactly what happened today. Our defensive structure limited his disposal options, so even though he got a lot of it, he couldn't do much with it.

Compare that to Cotch, who got less of it but killed the Hawks with it.

Hawthorn should have tagged Cotchin.

[Tigeritis™©®]

Rubbish! Was at the game and Mitchell was very good today. Won clearances at will, set up others and fed the ball out to his teammates with ease. If it wasn’t for Rance, his 6 inside 50’s could’ve been disastrous for us.

There was no tag in him except in the third quarter and he was tackled heavily once that I remember.

To say he wasn’t influential in my opinion is mind boggling. He should’ve had a heavy tag from the start to curtail his ball getting ability. pee-poor effort by all concerned by not making this happen from the first bounce, we would’ve won by 10 goals.

I think his influence was clearly the reason why they were able to be so close in the end. Easily BOG.