Swans out to collar Dogs young gun Mitch Wallis

[bornadog]

Bruce Matthews From: Herald Sun May 30, 2012 12:00AM (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/more-news/swans-out-to-collar-dogs-young-gun-mitch-wallis/story-e6frf9jf-1226371831925)


http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa198/mmsalih/wallisb.jpg

NEW Rising Star favourite Mitch Wallis will have that fleeting fame put to the supreme test against Sydney at the SCG on Sunday.

The 19-year-old and his fellow midfielders know they must excel in the contested-ball contests being drilled into every Western Bulldog if they are to claim their first top-eight scalp this season.

Wallis has leapt to the top of the Rising Star market with online bookmaker sportsbet.com.au after his 24-possession game against Geelong that earned 108 Supercoach points, boosting his average to an impressive 88 after just 13 AFL games.

Backman Patrick Veszpremi, more than anyone, knows what confronts the Bulldogs as he prepares to face his former Swans teammates for the first time.

"It will be a really good challenge. We're up there in contested footy and that's one of the key factors at the SCG,'' Veszpremi said.

''We're not going to change anything, so hopefully our young mids and old mids can get in there first and we can fix up the other areas.''

The Bulldogs' hard-nosed approach to the ball and the ball carrier is still a work in progress under coach Brendan McCartney.

"The belief is still pretty strong. It's like anything, you get extra belief in a way if you do knock off one of those top eight teams,'' Veszpremi said.

''But at the moment, we're pretty level and have been since Round 1 and we're just keen to keep going forward and improve on the areas that we need to," .

Ruckman-forward Ayce Cordy, a late withdrawal last Friday night, is ready to go, along with defenders Easton Wood (hamstring) and Dylan Addison (suspension).

Cordy's return would give McCartney more options with another tall Jordan Roughead.

"We did our review on Monday (of the loss to Geelong) and talked a lot about that last kick going inside 50 and about defensive pressure around the ground to win the footy back," Roughead said.

"Something we're priding ourselves in at the moment is contested footy. We're going all right in that department and really are going to have to again because Sydney like to play a congested style. So we're going to have to get our hands on it inside."

[bornadog]

Don't understand why Mitch wasn't nominated last week for the rising star, or can he still win based on last years nomination?

[anfo27]

already been nominated in the win against Melbourne and since that game has been great for us. deserves to be favourite for the rising star.

[LostDoggy]

Mid to late last year some people were writing him off.

Gun.

[LostDoggy]

Mid too late last year some people were writing him off.

Gun.

I was one.

Happy to say I was wrong.

[LostDoggy]

I was one.

Happy to say I was wrong.

Ditto.

[bornadog]

already been nominated in the win against Melbourne and since that game has been great for us. deserves to be favourite for the rising star.

missed that, thank you.

[Remi Moses]

Still staggered some wrote a 19 y/o off, takes time for young players to develop and settle.
He seems more poised and polished compared to last year.

[DragzLS1]

I thought he was nothing special and couldnt see him being a gun for us.

I am happily eating my words and man do they taste great ;) love Mitche's work along with young Libba very promising and deserves teh rising star award if he keeps his game up.

Ave 23-25 possessions over the past 4 weeks for somebody who only has 10 games under his belt :s also has kicked 2-3 goals over the past 4 weeks. Great Work!

Cant wait to see him against the swans :)

[Maddog37]

Easy to understand why he was being talked down. He is not quick, he is not a great mark, he is not a great kick. He is a natural footballer though.

Hope he can handle a tag. I would imagine Griff would be super happy if Wallis or Libba got the number one tagger!!!

[The Coon Dog]

Still staggered some wrote a 19 y/o off, takes time for young players to develop and settle.
He seems more poised and polished compared to last year.

Like his Dad, uses his body so well.

[Ozza]

Like his Dad, uses his body so well.

Played mid-week basketball against Steve a few times years ago - and can confirm first hand on the good body work! (under the basket in this case). Very hard to move!

[Mofra]

Easy to understand why he was being talked down. He is not quick, he is not a great mark, he is not a great kick. He is a natural footballer though.
Definately a natural footballer - just has that innate knowledge of where to run, and when. The ability to find the football at AFL level 25+ times in a game is pretty rare in a 19 year old. His tackling is already first rate.

[Grantysghost]

Like his Dad, uses his body so well.

Ask Brett Heady!

[LostDoggy]

Still staggered some wrote a 19 y/o off, takes time for young players to develop and settle.
He seems more poised and polished compared to last year.

Same.

Another case of the wrong headline for an article though. There is absolutely nothing in the article to suggest Sydney is in any way paying Wallis extra attention.

[Desipura]

Mid too late last year some people were writing him off.

Gun.
Funny how some take issue with some players being lauded as the next big thing after a short period of time however they are quick to write off players straight away like they did with Mitch.

[Remi Moses]

Like his Dad, uses his body so well.

Brett Heady would attest to that:p

[Remi Moses]

Same.

Another case of the wrong headline for an article though. There is absolutely nothing in the article to suggest Sydney is in any way paying Wallis extra attention.

Thought the same thing!
Not even a Sydney quote

[1eyedog]

I was one.

Happy to say I was wrong.


Ditto.

These comments are beyond me.


Easy to understand why he was being talked down. He is not quick, he is not a great mark, he is not a great kick. He is a natural footballer though.

Hope he can handle a tag. I would imagine Griff would be super happy if Wallis or Libba got the number one tagger!!!

Yet he still excelled against all the other young footballers who are quick, great marks, great kicks etc. He will be playing against a bunch of these guys over the next few years.

A focus on contested ball this year has helped him work within his limitations.

[LostDoggy]

Let me clarify. I was extremely worried that his lack of speed and disposal quality wouldn't help him.
From this season, he has should he can get the ball at AFL level and his disposal has improved.
He may still not make it as an A grader but he looked miles from it last year. He also suffered in comparison with Libba.

[KT31]

Mid too late last year some people were writing him off.

Gun.

Not sure about writing him off.
At the time the concesses seemed to be he needed a bit more time to get up to speed with the game.
Which he had and has managed to do.

[LostDoggy]

The Swans will probably try to put pressure on Wallis and Libba but I can,t see it working too well , not for the full 4 quarters , if Sydney go into the game with the mindset to tag 4 or 5 players they will find themselves drawn into a contest they don,t really want to be a part of

.

[jeemak]

Same.

Another case of the wrong headline for an article though. There is absolutely nothing in the article to suggest Sydney is in any way paying Wallis extra attention.

I had a little chuckle at this, myself.

I'm sure they just neglected to leave out the quotes where representatives from Sydney came out and said "we're really looking forward to keeping the dogs in their kennel", or "we're going to keep them begging for for forward opportunities" or................OK, I'll fnish up and let myself out. :D

[jeemak]

I think it's a real challenge for suporters to keep a level head in terms of expectation when it comes to high draft picks these days.

There is a consensus ingrained amongst social media users, traditional media readers and watchers that is born from unrealistic expectation on young players due to the exposure the game receives.

Wallis is as good a chance of having a slump in the second half of the year, as he is picking up the pieces again at the start of next year. The reality is he's a kid, and still has a lot to learn as the game evolves on a yearly basis.

His true test will come when the coach pushes him to start using the ball more creatively. He's demonstrated he knows how to get it, and after doing that on a consistent basis he'll need to show he can do that consistently across a season, copping a tag while trying to be more adventurous with how he uses it.

I'm happy with his progress, and I'm not assigning any level of future expectation on him right now.

[LostDoggy]

In fairness he didn't just not look A-Grade he was truly horrid across several games preseason and last year. Consistently coughed up the ball and seemingly never in the right place. Can't blame the fairly strong negativity from many people despite the fact it was (i hindsight) way to early to formulate an opinion. It's been an extraordinairy turnaround this year to last. Whatever clicked he just looks a new player. Good luck to him and hope he plays 300 great games with us!

[jeemak]

In fairness he didn't just not look A-Grade he was truly horrid across several games preseason and last year. Consistently coughed up the ball and seemingly never in the right place. Can't blame the fairly strong negativity from many people despite the fact it was (i hindsight) way to early to formulate an opinion. It's been an extraordinairy turnaround this year to last. Whatever clicked he just looks a new player. Good luck to him and hope he plays 300 great games with us!

Well in the case of preseason this year and last, he was probably completely knackered each and every time he touched the ball. Preseason games can't be trusted with respect to form, as you don't know what each player is doing on a weekly basis in terms of physical work away from games.

I didn't see enough of him at Willy last year, apart from what I read and saw on the box. All I'll say is that from the games I saw there was sufficient evidence to not write the kid off, like some people did, especially since he was only 18 at the time.

It's still too early to formulate an opinion on him IMO. He's the second or third midfield grinder we have in our side behind Boyd, Cross and Liberatore (though at this rate he'll take over the latter two shortly), so he's not going to come under much scrutiny for a while, especially when opposition midfields know the receiver he's giving it to isn't likely to hurt them.

His big test will come when Boyd and Cross retire, and a defensive midfielder decides to mark him on a regular basis.

[Drunken Bum]

Definately a natural footballer - just has that innate knowledge of where to run, and when. The ability to find the football at AFL level 25+ times in a game is pretty rare in a 19 year old. His tackling is already first rate.

I have started to notice how often both Wallis and Libba are in the area of the ball together and how often the ball goes from one to the other. I recall reading that was the case in school and TAC footy that they were the dynamic duo but it has already begun to appear in their AFL careers as well. I like it, i think they are both natural footballers and work really well together naturally.

[LostDoggy]

I have started to notice how often both Wallis and Libba are in the area of the ball together and how often the ball goes from one to the other. I recall reading that was the case in school and TAC footy that they were the dynamic duo but it has already begun to appear in their AFL careers as well. I like it, i think they are both natural footballers and work really well together naturally.

As long as they're not too predictable, because opposition teams will work this out pretty quickly and ensure they're stationed between the two.

[Twodogs]

Still staggered some wrote a 19 y/o off, takes time for young players to develop and settle.
He seems more poised and polished compared to last year.



It's more staggering when you think that he was only 18 when he was being written off.

[bornadog]

Can't blame the fairly strong negativity from many people despite the fact it was (i hindsight) way to early to formulate an opinion.

I can, considering they were having a go at an 18 year old.

[LostDoggy]

OK, let's just forgive and forget eh?

[bornadog]

OK, let's just forgive and forget eh?

Of course:D

[1eyedog]

I can, considering they were having a go at an 18 year old.

You mean like you were at Smith the other week with his one kick in 12 minutes :rolleyes:

[Mofra]

You mean like you were at Smith the other week with his one kick in 12 minutes :rolleyes:
I don't recall BAD saying that he won't make it as a footballer because of it

There's a difference in saying a kid has had a bad game (and Wally had some bad ones last year, pointed out fairly by Woof posters) and that an 18 year old who carved it up as a junior won't make it as a footballer.

I dare say anyone who wrote him off last year is happy with his 2012 form so the point may be moot anyway.

[bornadog]

You mean like you were at Smith the other week with his one kick in 12 minutes :rolleyes:


I don't recall BAD saying that he won't make it as a footballer because of it

There's a difference in saying a kid has had a bad game (and Wally had some bad ones last year, pointed out fairly by Woof posters) and that an 18 year old who carved it up as a junior won't make it as a footballer.

I dare say anyone who wrote him off last year is happy with his 2012 form so the point may be moot anyway.


I believe Mofra has answered for me.

You really didn't like my comment on his one disposal and 4 tackles. Surely one can make a comment on a game:confused:

FYI, I like Smith he has guts and determination and I believe he will make it.

I will never ever bag a young kid on our list (or any list) and have stuck up for many over the years. Sometimes I was wrong, like I thought Stack might make it, but I believe in giving them a go before severe criticism is made.

[Desipura]

I believe Mofra has answered for me.

You really didn't like my comment on his one disposal and 4 tackles. Surely one can make a comment on a game:confused:

FYI, I like Smith he has guts and determination and I believe he will make it.

I will never ever bag a young kid on our list (or any list) and have stuck up for many over the years. Sometimes I was wrong, like I thought Stack might make it, but I believe in giving them a go before severe criticism is made.
And you thought picking up Barry Hall was a bad mistake. :p

[bornadog]

And you thought picking up Barry Hall was a bad mistake. :p

Yes true, don't like recruiting 30 year olds.:o

[LostDoggy]

Yes true, don't like recruiting 30 year olds.:o

That should read 31 year olds. 30 year olds are still young mate…

[bornadog]

That should read 31 year olds. 30 year olds are still young mate…

Are you:D