Crows SA/WA Recruiting Manager Phil Bunn unlocks the Recruiting Files to give an insight into how exciting forward Mitch McGovern joined the Club in the 2014 AFL National Draft.

Mitch McGovern has good football pedigree. His father Andrew played 83 games for Fremantle and Sydney in the 1990s, and older brother Jeremy is now an All-Australian defender for West Coast. Mitch played junior footy for North Albany before moving to Perth to start Under-18s with WAFL club, Claremont. He played 19 games in 2012 and showed glimpses of his natural talent, but by his own admission didn’t work hard enough to be drafted as an 18-year-old …

“I remember watching Mitch because I’d liked his brother, Jeremy, when he came through at the same age. Jeremy always showed some talent so when I saw Mitch I thought, ‘Ooh, this will be interesting.’ Mitch was a bit smaller than Jeremy, but they had some similar traits.

“Being a country boy, I think it took Mitch a little while to adjust when he went to Perth. Mitch and Jeremy lived in the bush most of their lives, in Kalgoorlie and then Albany.

“I think Mitch will tell you himself that in the first year of footy he played for Claremont he was enjoying life. He was 18, had just moved to the city and was playing for Claremont, which was a pretty good achievement in itself. Mitch had some tricks, but we didn’t see enough to seriously consider drafting him that year.”

McGovern fell further out of draft calculations in 2013 after a stress reaction in his foot limited him to a solitary quarter of football for the Claremont reserves …

“That year was a wipe-out for Mitch. He really wasn’t on the radar because he wasn’t on the park.

“It was one of those bad foot injuries that can take a long time to heal. He tried to start pre-season training for the next season and his foot flared up again, so he basically had no pre-season again.”

The athletic half-forward eventually returned from the long-term injury with the Claremont reserves in early 2014. But he was underdone after such a long spell on the sidelines and his body broke down again. He had a stint with the Wembley Football Club in the Amateur League before working his way into Claremont’s league team. He kicked 10 goals from 11 games with the Tigers to put his name back in front of AFL recruiters …

“Mitch played some reserves games for Claremont. It wasn’t many, maybe, two or three and then they put him up into the League team - that’s when he really started to blossom.

“With Mitch, you never saw complete, four-quarter performances but you always saw little snippets of something really special. I went to the Claremont Showgrounds to watch him one day. I think they were playing against Perth and Mitch didn’t do much all game.

“It got to the last quarter and I was a bit disappointed, but then Mitch took two hangers and I thought, ‘That’s what I’m here for!’

“I remember another game at Swan Districts. Mitch had half-a-dozen moments of brilliance that day. He took a ball out on the half-forward flank, went onto his right foot and drilled a ball down the throat of Brenden Abbott, who was playing at full-forward and ended up being drafted by Collingwood.

“Later in the game, Mitch swung onto his opposite side and did exactly the same thing on his left foot. There were a couple of defenders in the vicinity of where the ball was going, but Abbott came out of nowhere and ran onto this bullet pass. I reckon that was Mitch’s target all along. He saw it and went for it even though it was a difficult kick. He always backed himself, which I liked.”

Mitch McGovern in Claremont colours. Photo: Mogens Johansen/WA News

The 191cm goalkicker spent most of his time across half-forward, but his huge vertical leap meant he also played as a back-up ruckman to Claremont and former West Coast premiership player Mark Seaby.

A firm word from his Dad, as well as seeing Jeremy succeed through hard work with the Eagles helped Mitch, who was working as a credit officer, realise the AFL was where he wanted to be …

“Mitch will tell you that because he’d seen Jeremy make a few mistakes along the way before he got himself fit and became a really good AFL player, he was smart enough not to go down the same path.

“We just weren’t seeing him dominate the WAFL competition. He probably didn’t achieve, I think, what he was capable of but there was enough there - enough to excite me anyway!

“He basically couldn’t do a pre-season for two years because of injury and that smacked of upside. He had no fitness base, but he had elite athleticism with his speed and his vertical leap, and he could kick on either foot.

“He had a lot of AFL attributes. Our WA scouts, who watched Mitch most weeks, were right behind him. They saw him as an AFL player.”

The younger McGovern sibling was invited to the AFL Draft Combine where he enhanced his credentials by finishing top 10 in the vertical jump and kicking test. He met with seven clubs: Adelaide, North Melbourne, Carlton, Collingwood, Geelong, West Coast and Fremantle.

It was a follow-up chat for the Crows, who had already been to interview the draft prospect at home with his family a month or two earlier …

“Myself, and one of our WA scouts Silv (Lombardi) went around to the McGovern home. I was really taken by his parents. Andrew had played at the level, but he didn’t interfere with the boys’ footy in any way. He just encouraged and helped them. Michelle was lovely and really supportive as well.

“I remember spending an hour or so there having a nice lasagne for dinner and coming away feeling really good. It was another box ticked.”

The Crows entered the 2014 National Draft with pick Nos.14, 35, 43 and 58. Defender Jake Lever from the Calder Cannons was the first name called by Adelaide followed by local midfielder Harrison Wigg. Bunn was pleasantly surprised when McGovern was still on the board when the Club reached its third pick at No.43 …

“I wasn’t confident he’d still be there from what I’d seen, but I had my fingers crossed. It was a chance. There didn’t seem to be truckloads of interest in him from other clubs, but you just don’t know.

“West Coast had picks in a similar range, 32 and 51, and with his brother already at the club we figured they’d been watching him and knew how talented he was. They were probably the club I was most worried about picking Mitch off before our picks.

“Looking back, it’s hard to think he got to No.43 with the skill set he’s got, but that’s easy to say in hindsight.”

McGovern endured another injury-interrupted year after arriving at West Lakes. A niggling Achilles complaint prevented him from putting a solid block of training together at any stage, and a late-season knee injury also cost him a few games. He made 13 SANFL appearances for the season …

“When Mitch continued to have issues with a couple of little injuries, you do start to doubt yourself as a recruiter. You think, ‘Did we do enough medical checking? Is he going to be a player who just can’t get out on the park to show everyone what he can do?’

“But the injuries he had in his first year here weren’t in any way related to the problems he’d had prior to being drafted. The way he played in the back half of 2014 showed he’d completely recovered from his foot problem, so we were confident he’d be alright in the long run.

“The Club put some time and resources into Mitch, and he was diligent as well in trying to get his body right and learning what it took to prepare for training and games.”

After a careful and gradual introduction to his second pre-season under the guidance of Adelaide’s Physical Performance team, McGovern exceeded everyone’s expectations in 2016. The ‘x-factor’ forward seized his opportunity in the NAB Challenge, and went on to play 23 of a possible 24 games (the only match he missed was through management of his workload). He kicked 32 goals, crashed packs and applied strong defensive pressure as part of the AFL’s highest-scoring attack …

“This year was good, wasn’t it? I thought, ‘Thank God!’

“We all know what he’s capable of doing and if he’s able to do it on a more consistent basis he becomes a really good player.

“The amount of times he jumps and get his hands to marks, but doesn’t quite hold them … he’s taken some good marks, but he’ll take mark of the year at some stage in the next 2-3 seasons. If I could, I’d put money on it!

“Mitch is really the modern-day player. He’s got the speed to hit up at the footy and get back in behind his opponent. He’s got the vertical jump to be really dangerous in the air and he can kick with penetration as well. If he marks the ball 45m out, he knows he can go back and make the distance.

“He’s a bloody hard match-up for anybody!

“I’m just really pleased for Mitch that he’s been able to get some continuity in playing and also training, and has started to realise his potential. There’s a lot better to come, which is really exciting.”

Mitch celebrates his first AFL win with Paul Seedsman and Wayne Milera Junior in Round Two this year