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WESTERN Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney raised a few eyebrows this week when he compared his teenage midfielder Mitch Wallis with Hawthorn star Sam Mitchell.
Just two days earlier, Wallis had opposed Mitchell for three quarters and the Hawks' champion centreman had been best-afield in a 72-point mauling of the Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium.
However, Wallis, 19, was beaten but far from bowed - a point not lost on McCartney at a press conference at Whitten Oval on Tuesday.
"You won’t see much difference from what Sam Mitchell was producing at that age to what Mitch (Wallis) is now," McCartney said.
And he's right.
But you won't hear Wallis spruiking such things. The youngster is "reasonably happy" with his progress in his second AFL season but tempers any favourable self-analysis with an open admission that he still has "so much to learn".
And Wallis learned more in one game opposed to Mitchell than he did in the previous month.
His insights into this seemingly lopsided match-up showed his sharp football brain, keenness to learn, and maturity beyond his years.
Wallis didn’t find out about the role until he and fellow teenager Clay Smith were summoned to a meeting with the Dogs coaches on game eve. The plan was for the pair to share the run-with duties on Mitchell.
Wallis had met Mitchell before - on a fine summer's day at Sorrento six years ago. Wallis, then 13, was with his father - former Bulldog Steve Wallis.
"Sam wouldn’t remember it but I sure do," Wallis told AFL.com.au. "Dad encouraged me to ask him if I could have a kick with him, so I asked and Sam said, 'sure'. We had a kick for five or 10 minutes. It was one of the highlights of my life."
Since then, Mitchell had won three club best-and-fairests, All-Australian selection, and captained the Hawks to the 2008 premiership.
Wallis was more anxious than normal ahead of Sunday's game. It was the biggest job he'd been given in his career to date, and he was conceding 10 years in age and 194 games of AFL experience to Mitchell.
"I was quite nervous because I’d never had a role like that before," he said.
"Then I got some DVDs of his games and in a lot of them he was getting tagged but he just kept getting the ball and using it so well, which didn’t really help my nerves the night before the game."
Pre-game, Wallis noticed Mitchell was the first player from either side to go through his individual warm-up routine on Etihad Stadium.
Wallis played on Mitchell in the first, third and final quarters, while Smith had him in the second term.
Mitchell received the maximum 10 votes in the AFL Coaches' Award after amassing 34 possessions and a goal to Wallis's 19 touches.
But in the three quarters in which they were directly opposed, the statistical discrepancy closes considerably, with Mitchell having 21 touches (and no goal) to Wallis's 16. In the third term the roles were even reversed, with Wallis winning six to four as he applied a harder tag.
Wallis emerged from the duel with a wealth of knowledge and even greater admiration for Mitchell.
"He's such a great talent in terms of his work-rate to run to position, his ability to read the game, his skills on both sides of his body, and to work so hard for his teammates, who he blocked for and provided defensive cover," Wallis said.
"When the game was played on their terms, he really backed his teammates in. When the ball was in dispute he ran forward of the play a few times and got used offensively. To have that kind of confidence in your mates is something to aspire to as a team.
"He's so smart that if I was caught watching the ball or a player, he'd nick off straight away to become an option a hundred metres away. Then you’d use up so much energy getting there that he'd push off you at the next contest and the cycle started again.
"His sheer capacity to work up and down the ground ... I think it's the most I've ever ran in a game. I was just chasing his backside all day.
"He's so hard to play on, and he'd be such a great teammate to play with. It was a great experience to learn from one of the masters.
"When you play on a great player like that, you learn some little tricks - things like running patterns and bodywork at stoppages - that he used to his advantage and put me off my game. Some things I'm not going to let slip because I want to use them myself."
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Just two days earlier, Wallis had opposed Mitchell for three quarters and the Hawks' champion centreman had been best-afield in a 72-point mauling of the Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium.
However, Wallis, 19, was beaten but far from bowed - a point not lost on McCartney at a press conference at Whitten Oval on Tuesday.
"You won’t see much difference from what Sam Mitchell was producing at that age to what Mitch (Wallis) is now," McCartney said.
And he's right.
But you won't hear Wallis spruiking such things. The youngster is "reasonably happy" with his progress in his second AFL season but tempers any favourable self-analysis with an open admission that he still has "so much to learn".
And Wallis learned more in one game opposed to Mitchell than he did in the previous month.
His insights into this seemingly lopsided match-up showed his sharp football brain, keenness to learn, and maturity beyond his years.
Wallis didn’t find out about the role until he and fellow teenager Clay Smith were summoned to a meeting with the Dogs coaches on game eve. The plan was for the pair to share the run-with duties on Mitchell.
Wallis had met Mitchell before - on a fine summer's day at Sorrento six years ago. Wallis, then 13, was with his father - former Bulldog Steve Wallis.
"Sam wouldn’t remember it but I sure do," Wallis told AFL.com.au. "Dad encouraged me to ask him if I could have a kick with him, so I asked and Sam said, 'sure'. We had a kick for five or 10 minutes. It was one of the highlights of my life."
Since then, Mitchell had won three club best-and-fairests, All-Australian selection, and captained the Hawks to the 2008 premiership.
Wallis was more anxious than normal ahead of Sunday's game. It was the biggest job he'd been given in his career to date, and he was conceding 10 years in age and 194 games of AFL experience to Mitchell.
"I was quite nervous because I’d never had a role like that before," he said.
"Then I got some DVDs of his games and in a lot of them he was getting tagged but he just kept getting the ball and using it so well, which didn’t really help my nerves the night before the game."
Pre-game, Wallis noticed Mitchell was the first player from either side to go through his individual warm-up routine on Etihad Stadium.
Wallis played on Mitchell in the first, third and final quarters, while Smith had him in the second term.
Mitchell received the maximum 10 votes in the AFL Coaches' Award after amassing 34 possessions and a goal to Wallis's 19 touches.
But in the three quarters in which they were directly opposed, the statistical discrepancy closes considerably, with Mitchell having 21 touches (and no goal) to Wallis's 16. In the third term the roles were even reversed, with Wallis winning six to four as he applied a harder tag.
Wallis emerged from the duel with a wealth of knowledge and even greater admiration for Mitchell.
"He's such a great talent in terms of his work-rate to run to position, his ability to read the game, his skills on both sides of his body, and to work so hard for his teammates, who he blocked for and provided defensive cover," Wallis said.
"When the game was played on their terms, he really backed his teammates in. When the ball was in dispute he ran forward of the play a few times and got used offensively. To have that kind of confidence in your mates is something to aspire to as a team.
"He's so smart that if I was caught watching the ball or a player, he'd nick off straight away to become an option a hundred metres away. Then you’d use up so much energy getting there that he'd push off you at the next contest and the cycle started again.
"His sheer capacity to work up and down the ground ... I think it's the most I've ever ran in a game. I was just chasing his backside all day.
"He's so hard to play on, and he'd be such a great teammate to play with. It was a great experience to learn from one of the masters.
"When you play on a great player like that, you learn some little tricks - things like running patterns and bodywork at stoppages - that he used to his advantage and put me off my game. Some things I'm not going to let slip because I want to use them myself."
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