By Ken Casellas

Kane Mitchell is the consummate professional and an inspiring team player who will celebrate his 100^TH senior match with Claremont when the Tigers do battle with East Perth in the WAFL elimination final at Claremont Oval on Sunday.

Much water has flowed beneath the bridge since his first involvement with the Tigers as a member of the club’s 14’s side in the Claremont district junior competition in 2004.

This is his first year back after a five-year absence --- as an AFL player with Port Adelaide for four years and then enjoying a well-deserved respite from football as he and his fiancée Rachel spent 2017 travelling around Canada and north and south America.

The competitive edge still burns brightly and the super-fit, skilful and hard-running midfielder has developed into an outstanding leader who has played a significant role in the league side recovering from a tardy start to the season to finish in fourth place on the premiership table to earn the right to play host to the Royals on Sunday.

“I can see no reason why we can’t beat East Perth and go all the way and win the premiership,” Mitchell said. “We beat East Perth by 32 points in round 12 at Leederville Oval and beat them again by 24 points in the swamp here at Claremont in round 16.

“Our win at Leederville Oval was one of our better games of the year. We were on from the get-go, our pressure was good, our forwards kicked goals and our backs were unbelievable.”

Mitchell said that slow starts and giving the opposition big leads in the past two weeks before fighting back and beating Peel Thunder by eight points and Swan Districts by five points was far from ideal.

“You don’t want to do that in a final,” he said. “Five goals in a final is more like eight goals because of the extra pressure. However, we showed plenty of character to push through and win those two matches, and that was rather nice. But we don’t want to do that on Sunday. We want a big start; we want to fight and hunt.

“Over the course of the year our second halves have been really good and if we start well in the finals it will set us up perfectly for the second halves. We’ve got a great balance, a few old heads and a lot of young guys and as long as we keep hunting, applying pressure and backing ourselves in the way we want to play, I can’t see why we can’t be successful.”

Typical of Mitchell’s play throughout his career has been his fierce determination and when asked how he developed such a strong work ethic he replied: “Being the youngest of four boys brought about a highly competitive nature. I always wanted to prove myself. It wasn’t to prove anyone wrong, per se, it was more to prove to myself that I could do things. And I was so lucky to have the mentors and the quality of players I had around me when I was young.

“I had so many to look up to. Ian Richardson, in particular, was someone I latched on to. Richo and I used to do extra sessions together, and then Tommy Lee joined in as well. People might think that at Claremont we are college kids. But we work as hard as anyone, if not harder.”

Mitchell, now a battle-hardened 28-year-old, has excelled in his comeback season with the Tigers and he continues to amaze football fans with his endurance and wholehearted tackling pressure.

He showed early promise and was the winner of the fairest-and-best award in the 14’s grade at Claremont before making his debut in the Tigers colts side as a 16-year-old in 2006.

He finished second in the fairest-and-best award in the reserves side in 2008 and was fifth the following year when he also chalked up eight league appearances.  He played in five losing grand final sides with the Tigers, with the colts in 2006 and 2007, the reserves in 2008, the league side in 2010 and in the Foxtel Cup in 2011 before enjoying league premiership triumphs in 2011 and 2012 as well as a Foxtel Cup victory in 2012.

The year 2012 was a breakout one for Mitchell, who won the club’s fairest-and-best award and the Sandover Medal with a record-equalling tally of 58 votes. And then he was drafted as a rookie by Port Adelaide, a club with which he made 35 AFL appearances, including only four in 2016 when he won the fairest-and-best award with the Port Adelaide Magpies in the SANFL competition and finished equal third in the Magarey Medal behind Sturt captain Zane Kirkwood.

“I enjoyed my time in Adelaide,” he said. “It was awesome to live the dream and be a professional footballer and play in the AFL. The friends I made remain the biggest memories.”

Mitchell said that before joining Port Adelaide he had learnt a lot at Claremont where his teammates included several with AFL experience, notably Andrew Browne, Luke Blackwell, Andrew Foster and Byron Schammer.

“It was a step up at Port Adelaide where I experienced how competitive their players were,” he said. “They never wanted to lose at anything. They were so diligent about everything and dotted every I and crossed every T.”

At times, Mitchell was employed as a tagger by Port Adelaide and he explained how he was prepared for his run-with roles by shadowing star players like Travis Boak, Robbie Gray and Kane Cornes at training. “It was just to see if I could run with them, stay with them and then work offensively off them,” he said.

Mitchell admitted he was saddened by Port’s decision to delist him at the end of 2016 after 35 AFL matches. “But you’ve got to be happy with what happened,” he said. ”You can’t really do much about selection. You have got to try to play as best as you possibly can. I would’ve loved to have played a hundred AFL games, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“In the end you’ve got to be at peace with it. If you don’t then you can become really resentful about the experience. I don’t want to be angry or upset. I’m more than happy with where my career has gone. How many people can actually say that they have played AFL, let alone 35 games?”

This year Mitchell is Claremont’s co-vice-captain with Ryan Lim and he says that he is loving the leadership role. “Richo is a fabulous captain and I’m just a bit of a sounding board for him,” he said.

“We have a rather large age gap, with a few of us older guys and a lot of 21 and 22-year-olds and some even younger. I’ve loved the way Jared Hardisty has gone about his football this year. He is as hard as they come and is super impressive. Limmy is a great leader and Haydn Busher, Tom Lee and Jess Laurie have a positive impact. Ollie Eastland has been a dominant ruckman. There are so many positives.

“There were times this season that you had doubts whether we were good enough. But we have stayed the course and are ready to show our best. Our coaching staff has been absolutely sensational the whole year, giving us a whack when we deserved it, but staying positive all the time.”