Kobe Mutch grew up playing in the same junior teams as Isaac Cumming and Lachlan Tiziani, who were drafted like he was two weeks ago. Their North Broken Hill side used to win by a pile of points every weekend, so his dad would send him out to play with something specific to work on. "One week he said, 'only kick with your left foot'," he said. "And the next week, it was my right."
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It did the trick. Mutch was drafted to Essendon with something not many young players have, or have bothered to ever work on: an ability to kick competently on either foot. It means he arrived offering something slightly different to the other midfielders on offer but it also means he has a unique challenge in his first weeks as an AFL player: to choose left or go right, and try to make one side elite.
His coaches started talking to him about it even last year, and "everyone has different ideas", said Mutch. "Some people say 'your right is better' and other people say 'go with your left'. I don't know. It's confusing, but I have to just pick one and go with it," Mutch said.
"In field play I kick better on my left, I think. But if I have a set shot I usually kick on my right. I'm still working it out, so I'm coming in here on my days off already to do lots of kicking and work with the development coaches and try to make a decision because everyone says it will be better once I do.
"Even Jobe Watson said to me the other day, 'have you picked which one you're going to kick on yet?' It will help my footy if I can get one up to elite level and be able to turn off and not get confused about which way I want to go or what I want to do. I want to make sure the other side stays handy too, but it's something I've just got to do."
Mutch was six when he started playing in Broken Hill, alongside Tiziani and Cumming, for a club that produced more draftees than the state of Tasmania. Tiziani was "bigger than everyone back then, the one we just kicked the ball to and who kicked all the goals". Cumming "played cricket and basketball, and was always really athletic". As for Mutch: "I was just the slow midfielder plodding around out there, trying to get the footy as much as I could."
The three boys made their way from different places in the end, though all became part of the Giants' Academy. Tiziani moved to Albury, played for the Murray Bushrangers and was overlooked by every team last year before being chosen by the Giants with their second-last pick this time around. Cumming stayed at home, played a bit of footy for North Adelaide and was picked at No.20 after GWS matched Sydney's bid for him.
Mutch and his family moved to Gol Gol, near Mildura, when he was 14. Two years ago he went on his own to Bendigo, to finish school, board with a local family, play for Bendigo in the TAC Cup and "get the best of both worlds really, anything that would help me get drafted". He started draft night feeling like the Giants were unlikely to match a bid for him unless it came much later than they anticipated one would, and was happy to hear his name called by the Bombers at No.42 given he grew up barracking for them.
The feeling hasn't worn off, and the messages from his home town haven't slowed up. "It's just a little country club so to think they had three drafted is amazing and it was a great night for them to celebrate," he said. "We were probably considered the super team back then, all the way up from Auskick, because we had a lot of good players and used to win grand finals by 100 points. It feels like footy's sort of dying down there, so hopefully this gives hope to some of the kids there that they can get drafted, too. I went away and Lachie went away but Isaac stayed, so it shows you can do it from anywhere."
