Callum Mills firms for Rising Star award after 27 disposals in Sydney’s win over St Kilda
A STUNNING 27-possession display against St Kilda on Saturday night has moved Callum Mills into outright favouritism for the Rising Star award.
Sydney
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A STUNNING 27-possession display against St Kilda on Saturday night has moved Callum Mills into outright favouritism for the Rising Star award.
But with his first finals series just around the corner the 19-year-old said the coveted prize was well down on his list of priorities.
Plenty of people have been scratching their heads as to why the Swans defender had to wait until Round 16 to be nominated for the honour but there’s no denying his debut season has been remarkable as he’s slotted into the stingiest defence in the competition.
“The award is at the back of my mind at the moment,” Mills told The Daily Telegraph.
“Whatever happens, happens. My main focus is staying in the team at finals time, that’s more exciting than winning the Rising Star at the moment.”
Mills’ main rival for the gong is Western Bulldogs midfielder Caleb Daniels, with Melbourne’s Christian Petracca, Essendon’s Darcy Parish and Carlton’s Jacob Weitering having all looked like potential winners at different stages of the season.
But with just two rounds of the season to go, it appears a race in two between Mills and the diminutive Bulldog.
Daniel is the smallest player in the league, standing just 168cm tall, but makes up for his lack of size with great game sense and decision making.
Mills plays in defence and Daniel in the midfield so statistical comparisons are difficult. Arguably it’s harder for the Swans’ defender to pick up possessions in the backline.
Head to head there isn’t much between them in most categories including average disposals (Mills 19.1 to Daniels 21.2), metres gained (299 to Daniels) and contested possession (6.3 to 5.9).
But there are some elements of the game where the young Swan has a significant advantage with the obvious one being his marking.
Mills has taken 17 contested grabs to Daniels’ lone grab for the year. Mills’ intercept possessions are also elite with his 6.9 per game ranking him 14th in the AFL compared to Daniel’s 2.2.
One advantage Daniels has is he is playing in his second AFL season while Mills is in his rookie year.
Daniels just scraped into the qualification criteria after playing the maximum allowed 10 games last year. The only other criteria is to be under 21 years of age on January 1 this year.
Adding to the merit of Mills’ achievements this year is that he’s been selected ahead of experienced Swans defenders like Jeremy Laidler and Ted Richards.
The 19-year-old said the rivalry for places in the senior team had helped drive his success.
“The older blokes have helped me and there is competition for spots in the team,” Mills said.
“There’s a lot of older guys who play in the same spot as me in the reserves and you get pushed to perform well. There’s a lot of pressure and you’re learning as you go along which is what I like.”
Only two Sydney players have won the Rising Star — Dan Hannbery in 2010 after Adam Goodes in 1999.
The winner will be named on September 6 in Melbourne.
Originally published as Callum Mills firms for Rising Star award after 27 disposals in Sydney’s win over St Kilda
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