Port Adelaide spearhead Mitch Georgiades will line up for his 100th AFL game in this Friday’s Showdown, with the 24-year-old in career-best form over the last two seasons.
Drafted out of Subiaco in the 2019 national draft, Georgiades has gone from strength to strength, with an ACL injury in 2023 only providing him with more motivation to become one of the leading forwards in the competition.
Speaking with the Adelaide media on Tuesday, Georgiades discussed his favourite career moments so far, reviewing his performance from the weekend, and touched on his mentorship of towering teenager Jack Whitlock.
Georgiades on his 100th game this weekend
“It's pretty cool. Obviously honoured to play 100 games. It's been a great journey, and hopefully many more to come. And to play in front of the Showdown (crowd), it’s obviously one of the biggest games in the calendar for the year, for the club and for the state. So very excited.”
Georgiades on his favourite career moments
“Ohh, favourite moments, I think winning a final, that taste against Hawthorne a couple years ago, I think it's hard to beat. It was a close game. Also last year, that Gold Coast game as well, to send off Kenny and Chad and Trav, that was great game as well.
“Yeah, there have been a couple of nice (marks). I've dropped a couple along the way as well. So there's been some exciting points along the way.”
Georgiades on the team’s inaccuracy on goal on the weekend
“Nothing in particular. I think we doing so much work on that and not every week we're going to kick straight. The week before, I think we kicked incredibly straight against Hawthorn, and this week, we weren't as straight. But, I mean, we do so much work on it, we've all got our individual processes, so we'll back ourselves each time we go out there.
“I think this year there's been an improvement from looking at the stats and talking to the coaches yesterday. I think our set shots have certainly improved this year. So that's a credit to the forward line coach (Darren Reeves) and to Johnny Corbett, who's come over and worked closely with our skills, and also each player as well, they’ve worked so hard over the pre-season. So we're not going to kick them all. It sort of depends as well where we're taking our shots from. Sometimes we're finding ourselves in pretty tricky places. So that certainly makes a difference.”
Georgiades on reviewing his set shot kicking
“I went back yesterday to look at all my shots, just to compare the difference. Some of them bounce off my feet (wrong), and there’s not much you can do about that one. But I've got such a strong routine I know exactly how it works. And like I said, I'm not going to kick them all. But if I can back myself more often than not, I can back myself in.
“When the ball was moving the way it was and I was able to get on the end of a couple of nice looks. It's nice playing forward then.”
Georgiades on the ball movement into the forward 50
“I think there's multiple avenues (to get the ball inside 50). I think, as you saw on the weekend, when we're able to move the ball and change directions, I mean, looking at our forward line, we're probably not the biggest group, so the more movement we can get and create some open looks inside forward 50 that's certainly going to help. And I think this year and the last couple of weeks, it's certainly been building.”
Georgiades on mentoring Jack Whitlock
“Yeah, I certainly have (enjoyed playing alongside him). I've loved working with Jack over the pre-season, even the last couple games last year. I mean, he showed his talent and each week I feel like he grows so much. When he gets full stretch for the ball, he's pretty impossible to stop. I love working with him, he comes in, he tries to get better every day.”
Georgiades on Dante Visentini playing more forward
“He’s been really good. We know exactly what we’ll get out of Dante, a contest down the line. And he's able to go into the ruck and have a real impact in there as well. So I certainly enjoy him having his forward as well. He takes a bit more of that brunt, down the line stuff, which I quite enjoy so, but yeah, I love playing with Vis.”
Georgiades on Adelaide’s form
“They're a quality outfit. We know exactly what they can bring and it's a Showdown week. So it doesn't matter where you are on the ladder or who's in a good form, it's always close. So I'm looking forward to the contest on the weekend.
“I think it's always got some ferocity. I'm not sure if they ever left and with Carry at the helm, I think he's probably at the forefront of ferocity and playing in Showdowns. And so I'm looking forward to going out there again.”
Georgiades on the growth of the group
“The growth each week, I think you can start to see things are coming together a bit more. At the start, it might have looked a bit clunky, and things quite weren't working as well as we'd like, and within the last two weeks, against some really quality opposition, I think we've shown that when we get it right, it's looking really nice. And we've got lots of young players coming in and playing their role and it's exciting. I think (to sustain that) it's to remain level headed. Obviously a great win on the weekend, and it's really important to review it the same as the week before, the week before, and we go out each week and try to get a little bit better. And that's what we’ll do again this week.”
Georgiades on Chad Cornes’ comments about his future
“That's his job now (to comment on the industry). He's in the media, and he's there to say some stuff. And obviously I've got a really close relationship with Chad, working with him for the past seven years. He's allowed to say what he wants, but right now I'm fully focused on Port and I’m contracted here.
“I'm just literally focusing on the moment, this year, next year. That's when I'm contracted to. And I love it here. I love what we're building as a club. I feel like I'm stepping up as a leader and taking this club forward a little bit. So yeah, I’m not focused too far ahead into the future.”
