New role for Wallis

[bornadog]

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Mitch Wallis has played various roles over the past few seasons and 2016 may see his role evolve even more, on the back of changes announced by the AFL in September around reduced interchange rotations.

In 2014 Wallis was lauded for his run-with work. His blocking, tackling and ability to clear space around the stoppages saw the then 22-year-old emerge as a key ingredient of the young Bulldog midfield. In 2015, under first year coach Luke Beveridge, Wallis excelled as an attacking midfielder, finishing atop the Bulldogs leader board in the AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year award ahead of Marcus Bontempelli and Jake Stringer.

While he expects to spend plenty of time in the middle this coming season, Wallis has been looking to add new dimensions to his game as more time in the forward line beckons.

“The tank, speed and agility, a whole range of things, just total footy.

“But with less interchanges this year I’ll probably spend more time forward, so my forward craft and hopefully kicking a few more goals and taking some marks on leads.”

While Wallis used the break for some quality beach time with family and friends it wasn’t all sand and surf for the 23-year-old, with training still very high on the agenda.

“The break was really good – it was really quick, we had a couple of hot days in there – I spent a bit of time at the beach with my family and my girlfriend. Glad to be back but I did enjoy a couple of weeks off,” he said.

“You do a lot of good work pre-Christmas so you don’t want to lose all that over your break.

“We had a few long sessions, a few speed and endurance sessions just to make sure we keep at it and keep our fitness base right up.”

It’s hard to believe at such a young age Wallis is one of the older heads of the Bulldog midfield brigade and while he prides himself on his leadership ability, he sees it as a shared responsibility throughout the group.

“There’s so many midfielders that go through there – I’m probably one of the more constant people in there but it was the roles that everyone was playing was why we were going so well whether that be Jakey Stringer or Lukey Dahlhaus coming up or someone like Webby who pitched in every now and then.

“There’s just so many people going through there with different responsibilities. It’s a really good place to be at.”

Asked if he’s given much thought to that moment when the first ball is bounced in just over a month, the #3 couldn’t contain his enthusiasm.

“I can’t wait. You can only train so much until you want to play. It’s coming around pretty quick, I think February 28 is our first hit out in the NAB, so looking forward to that date.”

[jeemak]

Securing top votes in the AFLCA voting is a very good effort for Mitch.

I hope he takes another step and starts being a consistently balanced goal kicking midfielder.

[Greystache]

Not sure I'd call this a new role, he pushed forward regularly last season to great effect, accumulating 15 goals. When we won a contest or got a free in the middle of the ground Wallis regularly gut ran on the spread to get 10 metres on his opponent and mark uncontested.

Sometimes he looked like he was going to vomit going back for his kick.

[SonofScray]

Not sure I'd call this a new role, he pushed forward regularly last season to great effect, accumulating 15 goals. When we won a contest or got a free in the middle of the ground Wallis regularly gut ran on the spread to get 10 metres on his opponent and mark uncontested.

Sometimes he looked like he was going to vomit going back for his kick.

Agree, his efforts inside 50 with the ball on the ground were outstanding, he was ferocious in those contests. The goals were coming off the back of gut running back inside 50 but that scrapping work on the deck really put extra workload through defenders who otherwise zone off all day and play an aerial game.

Got a good nose for goal for a lad that doesn't have a lot of flash in his skill set.

[LostDoggy]

Agree, his efforts inside 50 with the ball on the ground were outstanding, he was ferocious in those contests. The goals were coming off the back of gut running back inside 50 but that scrapping work on the deck really put extra workload through defenders who otherwise zone off all day and play an aerial game.

Got a good nose for goal for a lad that doesn't have a lot of flash in his skill set.

Agree totally. To top it off, is pretty strong overhead and fairly reliable set shot so a great guy to be sending forward.

[Ghost Dog]

Agree, his efforts inside 50 with the ball on the ground were outstanding, he was ferocious in those contests. The goals were coming off the back of gut running back inside 50 but that scrapping work on the deck really put extra workload through defenders who otherwise zone off all day and play an aerial game.

Got a good nose for goal for a lad that doesn't have a lot of flash in his skill set.

From memory I have seen him vomit once at a game. Wally's kicking has improved out of sight.

[craigsahibee]

Agree totally. To top it off, is pretty strong overhead and fairly reliable set shot so a great guy to be sending forward.

Yep. Totally agree. I can relax when Mitch has a set shot from within 40m.

[F'scary]

He developed a good "dummy" near goals last year. Kicked a couple of good ones with it and missed a couple having done the hard part.

[The Pie Man]

Not sure I'd call this a new role, he pushed forward regularly last season to great effect, accumulating 15 goals. When we won a contest or got a free in the middle of the ground Wallis regularly gut ran on the spread to get 10 metres on his opponent and mark uncontested.

Sometimes he looked like he was going to vomit going back for his kick.

Agreed - his work rate was (is) outstanding, yet he still proved to be a really solid set shot for goal despite the obvious fatigue he had to be feeling

[Cyberdoggie]

While his kicking and performances are much improved, i'm still not a fan of his across the body kick he does.
It's very much a rugby union half back kick over the scrum that is just designed to push up the ground to no one.
He started doing it under the B Mac regime' due to the style of play and the fact he was getting caught with the ball a lot.
last year he actually started to play football again and make decisions with the ball, but it still creeps in now and again.

I want to see him not use this at all in 2016. When he gets the ball he needs to find the time to use it and use it well, then he
will be much more complete player.