By JARROD POTTER
BELTING out the club song with his team-mates – that’s what Mitch McCarthy missed most during his football hiatus.
Screaming the song in celebration after Dandenong’s round one TAC Cup victory over Gippsland meant the world to McCarthy, 18, last week as he vindicated the difficult decision to switch back to football from basketball.
“I’ve had good relationships over the last couple of years with sport, but the feeling of winning a game in footy has a much stronger, more powerful meaning,” McCarthy said.
“As much as I love my basketball, there’s more of a family bond in a football team and singing that song at the end of it, I don’t think I’ve ever sung a song with that much passion before.”
He got to ring out the tune again on Saturday after Dandenong’s 30-point win over North Ballarat and throughout it all McCarthy is getting the hang of things after making the biggest decision of his sporting journey.
McCarthy had gone to America to find his place in the basketball world, searching for a college team and preparing for life on the court, but there was the niggling feeling he couldn’t shake.
It wasn’t just a desire, but an actual ingrained need to get back on the oval and give footy his full attention.
“Over there (America) you’re starved of AFL – there’s none there – it was like I was on a fast of footy,” McCarthy said.
“I couldn’t hold a footy, couldn’t kick a footy so being starved of that gave me a bigger love of the game and hungrier to come back and do it.
Mitch McCarthy’s ruck-work has impressed Dandenong so far in season 2016. 152161 Picture: JARROD POTTER
“Coming back and joining the Stingrays program is that next level professionalism – the way everyone presents themselves and the way everyone is one big family, it feels special, and that’s the part I love about it the most, the brotherhood of it.”
The nerves settled after the first clash and while he’s a little rusty, McCarthy felt like he belonged in the TAC Cup and was able to bring his best for the Stingrays.
“It was good – obviously nerve-racking as my first official, proper game in what would’ve been 18 months,” McCarthy said.
“I’ve played the couple of practice matches beforehand, but getting out there in the Stingrays jumper I was pretty nervous – but I pushed through the nerves and did what my role was.
“I think I’m doing alright, it’s just positioning around the ground and getting a feel for the game back.”
That basketball background has only honed McCarthy’s greatest strengths – his leaping and athleticism.
Expect high-flying grabs, big tap-outs and a workhorse-output from the former Mt Eliza Redlegs junior – all while he’s learning on the job as the prime Stingrays ruckman this season.
It’s a tough ask to get your game sense back under the TAC Cup spotlight, but McCarthy has been assured by Dandenong that he’s got their backing and just needs to keep at it.
Once he discovers those missing pieces in his game – the ‘intangibles’ of life on field as he puts it – the 196cm ruck prospect believes he can make a great impact in the competition.
“The feel is still there, but I’m only tapping into it a little bit at the moment -for the lack of footy I’ve played in the last couple of years,” McCarthy said.
“But what Mark Wheeler said to me on the weekend ‘all this stuff, don’t worry about it as it’s what you’ll pick up from playing the game – that’s the stuff you’re lacking at the moment’.
“Those intangibles are what I’m trying to work on at the moment – I think physically I’m on par with where I should be – but the intangibles are and trying to execute them well.
“But it gives me a bit of confidence playing that first game and knowing where I should be – playing against Gippy Power and knowing I can play to that level.”
McCarthy and the Stingrays continue their TAC Cup campaign on 16 April against Bendigo in his maiden home game at Shepley Oval.
