Giant headache
Daniel happy to be like Mitchell
IT’S hard to get much higher praise. Sam Mitchell was a fourtime premiership player, a Brownlow Medal winner, fivetime club best-and-fairest and three-time All-Australian.
And last year, Caleb Daniel found himself being compared with the former Hawthorn star by fellow Hawks legend Dermott Brereton.
“To me, of everyone playing now, he is the most capable of becoming the next Sam Mitchell,” Brereton said after Daniel played a blinder in Round 3.
Daniel was a little taken aback by the comparison but also humbled.
Mitchell had been the player he had always admired and looked up to growing up.
“I’m pretty humbled by it,” Daniel said of the comparison.
“[Mitchell] was a great player and was for a very long time so it’s great. But there’s definitely things that I’ve got to improve on to get any comparison like that.
“I think both being short in stature probably helps but I think the ball-use side of things, he was able to see players that probably no one else could see by hand of foot. Hopefully I can develop into a player somewhat like that, that would be great.”
Mitchell was on the smaller side for modern midfielders at 180cm but did not let his height hinder his ability.
Daniel — the shortest player in the competition — is also undersized at 167cm but holds a similar attitude and will not let anything stand in his way.
The 22-year-old had minor post-season knee surgery but has barely missed a beat with training since Christmas and has spent the summer in the gym adding muscle to his frame.
Daniel has played a variety of roles since debuting in 2015, but discovered career-best form with a move to half-back for the final four rounds last season, averaging 102 SuperCoach ranking points. It is a position he looks set to stay in — for now.
“Definitely last year I found my feet down there,” Daniel said.
“You’re always on edge. You never want a goal scored on you. And just to be able to use the footy a little more freely between the arcs and releasing outside defensive-50 was great.
“I’ve spent most of my preseason down there so I think that might be Plan A, but like last year, things can change quickly. I’m just happy to be playing footy and if Bevo [coach Luke Beveridge] plays me in the midfield or plays me forward or down back or in the ruck, I’m just happy to be playing.”
The Bulldogs will pull on their special Thor jumper in their Round 1 clash with Sydney at Docklands tonight, minus their resident superhero Dale Morris, who will miss at least the first half of the season with another partial ACL tear.
Since Daniel has been at the Bulldogs, he has traded looking up to Mitchell for looking up to Morris but said the playing group was not feeling too down over the loss of their veteran defender.
“It’s sad to see someone of that quality and that quality person go through that for the second year in a row, but he’s actually super upbeat,” Daniel said. “I’m sure I’ll see him in the red, white and blue again some day soon.
“I’m looking forward to the day he runs out with us again.”