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“You cannot be serious”: The forgotten star clubs should take a chance on
Gerard Healy • November 10th, 2025 2:40 pm
You cannot be serious!
While the build-up over the next 10 days to the National Draft will focus on young talent, the player most likely to have the most significant impact on next year‘s finals and possibly the flag has already been retired - at least by Wikipedia and it seems by most in the football world.
Given he only played four games last season before being given the boot from his club, it’s understandable to some degree, but from what I saw in those final four games at the end of the season, I reckon he could be the wildcard of the draft. Surely I’m not the only one...
Yes, the big question for me on draft night won’t be what happens in the first round, because let’s face it, the clubs and managers have already leaked most of that out, and the distortions are at a ridiculous level due to the NGA known knowns.
No, for me it will be at the back end, and whether any club or coach has got the smarts and the nothing-to-lose attitude to take a punt on Tom Mitchell with a junk pick or at worst case via the SSP.
Most if not all have put a line through his name, thinking he is either finished or that the game has moved on from that type of inside only player.
But maybe, just maybe, there will be a club who is close to a flag like Freo, GWS, Hawthorn, the Bulldogs, Adelaide and Sydney that can see an opportunity to close the gap between themselves and the dominant force in the competition, the Lions, essentially free of charge.
Mitchell was dogged by an Achilles tendon problem for most of last season but got back into the side in Round 17. He had 26 disposals at 85% efficiency from just 69 minutes on the ground.
In Round 18 he had 20 at 75% efficiency and played a negating role, like Josh Dunkley does occasionally for Brisbane.
In Round 20 he had 29 possessions at 86% efficiency, got coaches votes and then was remarkably dropped.
Watching that match it was clear that the Pies had an obvious decision to make regarding their pace through the midfield as they headed towards the finals.
Despite his decorated career, Mitchell was last in and first out, but it was clear to me from his performance that there was plenty of football left in the 32-year-old Brownlow medallist.
It was just a little over two calendar years ago that he was top four for the Norm Smith medal in a brutal Grand Final against the Lions when he took on Lachie Neale. It was the high point of his career that remarkably most believe is now over. And it may well be.
But then I look at last year‘s premier, the mighty Brisbane Lions, whose midfield runs super deep with eight or nine players of varying athleticism, including more than a couple whose pace is at best serviceable.
My thinking was that surely for the chasing pack all living in Brisbane's shadow that Mitchell is simply too good an opportunity to pass up if they are to have any chance of catching them.
The game is largely about midfield talent and depth, and here we are, with just a couple of opportunities to add to your list in front of us, and so far there’s no takers evidently for Mitchell. I know what John McEnroe would scream!
Are Adelaide really that confident their midfield will all of a sudden develop enough to match the Lions without additions? Particularly one that essentially comes free of charge if draft picks are the AFL's currency.
The same could be said of Freo who are relying, it seems, on developing young players to produce a second wave of mids to bridge the gap.
David Walls has done a great job building that list and they are on the cusp, but have they got enough? They are still young and have lost Nat Fyfe and Michael Walters, so it’s a great short-term fit.
Mitchell‘s first two clubs - Sydney and Hawthorn - are in the same boat. Both lack the depth of Brisbane and could use him to bolster it, and/or release others forward.
With the Hawks' failed pursuit of Zach Merrett and the loss of James Worpel, they’ve told the footy world they’re in midfield deficit. So, what’s there to lose?
If Mitchell can hold up his end for two years, and you get to keep your draft picks, that’s a win-win!
Same for Sydney, who have thrown all their chips on the premiership table and their first-round picks, to hunt a third flag this century. Boosting your depth without paying for it via the draft is worth serious consideration.
Other clubs are obviously in the same position, but it will take the right team mix, a coach with the courage to back himself and a creative mind to emulate the thinking of Alastair Clarkson‘s pre-season recruitment of Stuey Dew and Brian Lake who went on to be significant figures in Hawthorn premierships.
Both were gambles but given it’s going to take more than long term drafting for most to catch the Lions, it’s a bigger gamble to ignore this opportunity.
Mitchell is an intriguing possibility for those with a flag on the horizon.
If I was Mathew Nicks, Justin Langmuir or Sam Mitchell I’d be salivating at the chance of grabbing a player, who moves the needle at his best, for nothing.
Has he still got the capacity to play at that level? Who knows, but the evidence late last year says he does and there’s plenty of older midfielders currently on lists that are a long way behind Mitchell at his best.
But at worst case, you’re paying peanuts, you’re getting an elite role model, with old-fashioned skill development standards on display, night after night - and throw in Collingwood’s IP for free!
Despite what Wikipedia says, Mitchell hasn’t retired. To be sure I rang him to find out. He was in LA where he was in a specific training block.
He’s desperate to play and like every kid on draft night will be riding every pick.
So for me, it will be the back end of the draft that will provide the greatest interest and insight, because the “retired” Tom Mitchell might just prove to be, in the short-term, the most inspired pick of them all.
