Mid-season draft: Dandenong Stingrays onballer Mitch Riordan stakes his claim

Mitch Riordan has got his burst back, and the Dandenong Stingray has emerged as a candidate for the AFL mid-season draft.

Everyone is saying it about Mitch Riordan.

He’s got his “burst’’ back.

And there is a good chance that ability to accelerate and then initiate will take the Dandenong Stingrays midfielder to an AFL club in the mid-season draft on May 27.

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Riordan is a 19-year-old player for the Rays, brought back as an “over-ager’’ after his 2018 season was hit by injury.

Specifically, he badly injured his hamstring in a match at the national Under 18 championships.

It restricted him to six games in the TAC Cup, and late in the season he was a hint of the player who former Rays talent ID manager Mark Wheeler had at one time assessed as a “high’’ draft prospect.

Still, as co-captain Riordan played his part in the club’s breakthrough premiership, prominent with his tackling in the grand final against Oakleigh Chargers.

This year there has been much more to his game than tackling.

“At times he’s looked a class above the other boys, just with his ability to come out of stoppage with real drive,’’ one recruiter told Leader.

“We haven’t seen too many doing it like him.’’

Stingrays coach Nick Cox was an assistant with the club last year, looking after a midfield that included Riordan, who had made his Under 18 debut at the age of 16.

“We might have unfairly put him back in last year, thinking it was his last chance,’’ Cox said.

“He’d lost all power. You go back to that MCG game where he got injured, he was one of the better players on the ground. It took him a long time to get over that. It was almost torn off the bone. It was a big injury, bigger than anyone thought.

Stingrays co-captains Mitch Riordan (left) and Campbell Hustwaite raise the 2018 premiership cup.

“If you watch the grand final, he had nothing. He’s got it back. That’s his X-factor. He does everything really well, but his standout this year is his ability to run away from the stoppage at pace and execute with delivery. He’s done it in the past but just bombed it. Now his vision is better. That ability to run away and carry, particularly with congestion around the ball, is elite at the moment.’’

Cox has also seen a change in Riordan’s approach to football.

Last year, he said, he had an unhealthy focus on it and was left deeply disappointed when he was overlooked in the national and rookie drafts.

“He’s got his balance in life right,’’ Cox said.

“He’s got his work, he’s got his friends, he’s not just in a footy bubble. He was that close to reaching the peak last year and then he fell to the bottom. And his life was pretty tough for a while. He’s a really smart and balanced kid now. He didn’t go out last year. He didn’t associate outside of footy. He was in the bubble, and that’s a trap a lot of kids fall into.

“Another year of maturing and his motto now is, ‘If it happens, it happens’. Hopefully it will.’’

Riordan was among the 22 state league and NAB League players listed for AFL-overseen medicals ahead of the mid-season draft.

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“Mitch’s pre-season was outstanding and he’s worked really hard to come back from the disappointment of missing last year’s drafts. We’ve been really pleased with his attitude and his application and his leadership around the group. His form has warranted him being spoken about for the mid-season draft, no doubt. I didn’t see much of him last year but he’s definitely got his speed back and he’s making really good decisions with the footy. He wins his own ball and he’s got a good mix of attack and defence. He’s a good all-round player, and a quality person.’’