The 20-year-old, who had been hit by injury in his previous two pre-seasons, expected to again be set back until at least the home and away season and thought he would be playing catch up from there.
Despite his slow start, a combination or hard work and determination over the off-season saw Mitchell’s rehab move ahead of schedule, and instead of playing catch up, the young midfielder was one of the leading Swans in Thursday night’s 40-point NAB Challenge victory over GWS.
“To be playing the first NAB Challenge game, I didn’t really expect that,” Mitchell told SwansTV after the match.
“I suppose after the injury occurred I had to sort of reset myself just to get the injury right.
“I’ve never played a NAB Cup game before, so hopefully I can get match fit in the next couple of weeks and set myself up for round one.”
Mitchell was a standout in the Swans’ win over GWS at Canberra’s StarTrack Oval, with the young player collecting 34 touches, including 16 contested possessions, six tackles and two goals.
The Swans’ number six also played extended minutes in the middle alongside young midfielders Luke Parker and Harry Cunningham, both who were also impressive in Thursday night’s clash.
Mitchell said gaining experience playing in the midfield was really beneficial for he and his young teammates.
“We started off with a younger midfield and it was good to get a chance in there and work with the younger blokes,” he said.
“I then swapped forward and got the chance to work with the senior blokes (in the midfield) as well.
“It’s good to be able to learn from them and we just try to learn as much as we can as young players.”
The Swans also welcomed a number of new faces to the field in Thursday night’s match, including new ruckman Tom Derickx, who played his first match in the red and white.
Derickx spent the majority of the match as the Swans’ main ruckman, and lined up against former Swan Shane Mumford and GWS big man Jonathan Giles.
The 26-year-old notched up 23 hit outs, four tackles and one goal in his first match as a Swan, and told SwansTV he felt positive about his first game at his new club.
“I’m pretty happy with how I went against the bigger body of Mumford,” he said.
“It was a good challenge for me and I think I held my own.
“It was good to come up against some good opposition in Mumford and Giles and it was a good hit-out and I managed to play a few minutes and it’s just a stepping stone to round one.”
Watch Tom Derickx speak to SwansTV in the rooms after Thursday night's win over GWS in Canberra
Derickx said he enjoyed the chance to finally play at full tilt, following a series of intra-club clashes against his own teammates.
“I’ve obviously worked a lot with the midfielders over the pre-season, but it was good to actually go full throttle and not have to worry about hurting your team mates which happens at training,” he said.
“I’m still pinching myself getting the tap to blokes like O’Keefe and McVeigh so it was really good.”
The former Tiger said he felt he was on the right track to play senior football in 2014, but admitted he still had a lot to improve before he gets the call up.
“I think so, but I’ve still got a lot to work on,” he said.
“’Taubo’ the ruck coach is pretty happy with how I’ve been going, so hopefully we want to play two ruckmen if Pyke is fit for round one and hopefully I’m that guy.”
