YOUNG CENTRE INMAN EXCITED AT EARLY CHANCES
Monday, 8 March 2010 4:32pm
By Chris Pike
Mitch Inman is one Emirates Western Force young gun to gain some invaluable experience early this Super 14 season and he has loved every minute of it so far.
Inman joined the Force out of Sydney University and the 21-year-old would have just been grateful to receive some minutes, but after being on the bench for the opening game with the Brumbies, he has started the last two at outside and inside centre.
His first start came over in Wellington against the Hurricanes and he learned plenty from Conrad Smith on that occasion, and then with Ryan Cross returning to the No. 13 jumper to face the Chiefs, Inman moved to inside centre and enjoyed that experience as well.
He certainly wasn’t expecting to have two starts already to his credit, but he's far from complaining even with only getting a few minutes in his opening appearance against the Brumbies.
"My goal was to get on at some stage this year at Super 14 level, but starting two out of the first three games is a lot more than I expected. Obviously it's a fantastic opportunity and I did everything I could to fulfil the chance I was given and it's been great," Inman said.
"The first game was exciting, but one of my brothers said the only time he saw me on the camera was when we were shaking hands at the end of the game. It was good, though, to have that feeling of getting on the field and it's something I've wanted to do since I was six or seven years old."
While Inman only came on after 79 minutes to face the Brumbies to open the season, he got the call mid-week from coach John Mitchell that he was starting against the Hurricanes.
At first he couldn’t believe it and then he had images of Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu running through his mind, and had a couple of restless nights, but was excited by the chance.
"It was exciting. Johnny Mitch gave me a call at about 11.30 at night on a Wednesday and left a voicemail," he said.
"I thought it was a prank, but little did I know I turned up the next morning when we were flying out to Wellington and he pulled me over to the side and told me that Crossy has been ruled out, and that I'd be starting at 13. I had a bit of trouble sleeping the last two nights preparing myself to play the likes of Conrad Smith and Nonu."
Once out there Inman enjoyed the experience even though it was quite a learning curve against some of the more experienced centres in world rugby, especially Smith.
"Technically that was probably my debut and it was a great experience. I went and talked to Conrad after the game and it was an awesome opportunity to play at that level and I loved every minute of it," he said.
"He's a very smart footballer and knew that I was young, keen and committed. He sucked me in a few times to set up his outside backs because I had tunnel vision of just defending him. He was obviously smart and very experienced, but I just have to keep chipping away to keep working on my game.
"I enjoyed it thoroughly. I was committed and did everything I could to support the team, but they had a lot of experienced backs and it was a tough game towards the end there. I gave it my best shot and it was an awesome opportunity."
Now having started at both inside and outside centre, Inman is seeing the challenges that come to being a professional footballer, but he believes he can adapt well to whichever spot he's put in.
"It is different. There's obviously different lines between inside and outside centre, but if you want to be a professional footballer that's what you have to cater for," he said.
"You have to be able to adapt to both positions."
With two starts under his belt what Inman now desperately wants to experience is his first win Super 14 level and he's hoping that can come against the Reds on Sunday at Suncorp Stadium.
"The hardest thing is that we need to get those cobwebs out. We are committed, but we just need to execute. We have been playing really well to start off with, but we just aren’t being consistent in some parts of the game and that's when the opposition tends to exploit us," he said.
"It's another awesome opportunity and it's always good to play your fellow Australian teams. The Reds are a very good side, are in form and we are just preparing mentally for that. Hopefully we go the right way in that game."
