AFLW: From Pittwater boys team to Sydney Swans for new recruit Alice Mitchell
NSW gun Alice Mitchell always dreamed of playing for the Sydney Swans - just not their AFLW team.
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About the only thing that’s been able to stop Alice Mitchell’s rise in AFL has been a global pandemic and a motor cycle accident the first time she rode a bike.
And while both stopped her in her tracks for a good while, the Gunnedah based young gun from Sydney’s northern beaches is now on track for a special piece of history as part of the Sydney Swans inaugural AFLW team.
And while “over the moon excited” about being recruited by the famous Sydney AFL club, it’s actually not the team Mitchell dreamt of playing in as a Swans mad fan.
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“I dreamed of playing as a kid I just thought it would be with the men,” said Mitchell who started her career with the Pittwater Tigers U9s boys team.
“I didn’t realise I couldn’t.
“I’ve always look up to the men and want to play exactly how they play - rough and fearless with the ball.
“Adam Goodes was always someone I looked up to, I loved Barry Hall because he had fights with people. I loved Nick Malceski, Isaac Heeney.
“It alway made me so sad when someone went to another club.”
A talented netballer and swimmer who grew up at Newport and attended Pymble Ladies College Mitchell made the decision to focus on Aussie rules late in her teens.
“I always wanted to see how far I could push myself. I don’t put pressure on myself in case I stop enjoying it,“ Mitchell said.
“I started playing with Pittwater Tigers at nine and I was the only girl in the team. But you could only play until 12.
“I stopped playing for awhile but I still followed it and then some friends started with the Mosman Swans when I was 15 and I went along.
“I wont the Kieren Jack medal in my first year. I wasn’t expecting that. Then opportunities just came. I started playing in rep stuff and got into NSW/ACT development team in 2017.
“I thought well, if I try really hard I could go places. Then AFLW started and it was exciting.’’
A year later she brought her ankle well on a visit to boyfriend wills family farm in Gunnedah.
“It was my first trip to his farm and I went on the motorbike but I don’t know how to stop it so I just jumped off,’’ said Mitchell who lives in Gunnedah with boyfriend Will Tibbs but will base in the eastern suburbs while training and playing for the Swans
“Then I got back too quickly and got stress fractures. Then Covid hit and my life led me to Gunnedah, taking time off and getting my drive back.’’
Mitchell, who has been playing for the Gunnedah Bulldogs, was scouted to pay in the recent Summer Series in Sydney where she impressed Swans coach Scott Gowans.
The tall and athletic Mitchell is the first player from North West to be selected in the Swans team squad.
“Being part of the inaugural team, it’s special, it’s a weird feeling but I'm over the moon excited,’’ she said.
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