Mitchell Honeychurch (born 2 March 1995) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). Honeychurch played for the

Eastern Ranges The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team in the NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. The club is a founding member of the competition (1992) and has produced several players for the Australian Football Leagu ...

in the

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victo ...

, and represented Vic Metro during the National Under 18 Championships. Honeychurch was named in the Under 18 All Australian team, and won Vic Metro's Most Valuable Player after a series of strong performances for Metro. Honeychurch played in the Ranges' TAC Cup Grand Final win over the

Dandenong Stingrays The Dandenong Southern Stingrays are an Australian rules football team in the NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. 1992 saw the birth of the Southern Stingrays, developed under the leadership of Steve Kennedy (Regional Ma ...

, booting 3 goals and named as one of the best afield. While ranked by Champion Data as the fifteenth most impressive player in the draft pool, Honeychurch slid to Pick 60 in the 2013 AFL draft, taking the Bulldogs (the club that had displayed the most interest in Honeychurch) by surprise.

AFL career

Honeychurch debuted against

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

in Round 15 of the

2014 AFL season The 2014 AFL season was the 118th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured ei ...

. The Bulldogs clinched victory in the dying minutes of the game with a Goal of the Year contender from Honeychurch's fellow first year player

Marcus Bontempelli Marcus Bontempelli (born 24 November 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). He has served as Western Bulldogs captain since the 2020 season, and was previ ...

. Honeychurch kicked the opening goal for the Bulldogs with his first kick - thus joining the elite group of first kick, first goal players - and finished with 8 disposals for the match. Honeychurch would go on to hold his spot in the side for the next two weeks, but didn't play again at AFL level in 2014. He did however play a pivotal role in securing the VFL Premiership for Footscray - their first since 1954. Under new coach Luke Beveridge, Honeychurch flourished early on in the 2015 season, playing and impressing in the first seven games of the season, and was awarded the Round 2 nomination for the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Buc ...

award, following a strong performance in the Bulldogs' win over Richmond at the MCG where he accumulated 18 disposals, six tackles and a goal.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Honeychurch, Mitch 1995 births Living people Eastern Ranges players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Western Bulldogs players