Excelling in first Canada West season, Australian Croft leads Griffins vs. Golden Bears

Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – Mitchell Croft keeps tabs on all of his Australian Volleyball Academy mates who are playing in Canada West, which is important because he’s co-hosting a Christmas gathering for them in Edmonton next month.

“We’ve got seven in Canada West now,” said the MacEwan Griffins rookie. “We’ve got two twins at Calgary (U of C’s Sam Kay and brother Will), Jarvis Page at Alberta, Jacob Baird at Saskatchewan, Sam Chen goes to Brandon, Sam Flowerday at TRU, Toby Bergh at UBC. And we’ve got some in the college association, as well.

“We’re going to have a big Christmas party. Everyone’s coming to Edmonton.”

He will see Page before that as his longtime roommate at the Canberra-based academy will be on the other side of the court this weekend.

Page is a setter for the Alberta Golden Bears, who will visit the David Atkinson Gym (Friday, 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, 4:30 p.m., both Canada West TV).

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“Personally, one of my mates I used to live with back in Australia is one of the setters on U of A, so I think I can find a little bit of inner fire within myself to play well,” said Croft.

“We were going to get the same flight over from Australia,” he added. “He’s five minutes down the road and I can see him whenever I want. It’s amazing to have someone so close in personal life and location, as well.”

Because there has been lots about his new home away from home that’s been unfamiliar territory. Recently, he experienced his first snow.

And he’s four games into what’s shaping up to be a stellar rookie season. Already, Croft is tops among Canada West rookies in kills/set (3.29) – a mark that’s eighth in the conference.

“He’s obviously leading our charge offensively,” said Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski of the 6-foot-9 outside hitter. “We put him on the left side last weekend and he was one of our best passers. He really can do so much. He just touches a lot of parts of the game for us. 

“Because of the level he’s played at in Australia, he’s a first year in name only. Just his experience level and the conversations we have, you can tell he’s someone who’s been around the game at a very high level. He thinks the game very well, he’s very analytical. 

“I know he has aspirations and goals for his career, and we want to help him have success in our program, and help him develop where he can be successful beyond this at the next level.”

His resume already includes being a member of the Australian Junior National Team this past off-season. 

“It was definitely really cool,” said Croft. “We got to travel all over Indonesia and play in the U20 Asian champs. We didn’t have a great outcome throughout the tournament, but to be able to play in that and have that national team camaraderie with a bunch of coaches and the pathway in Australia was just really cool.”

Mitch Croft has an extensive beach volleyball history, including representing Australia at the U21 World Championships at age 18 (Courtesy, Mitch Croft).

He also comes from an extensive beach volleyball history that includes playing in the U21 World Championships at age 18, and finishing fifth at both the Asian Championships and Youth Commonwealth Games. 

At Australia Volleyball Academy, every student is exposed to beach before most end up in indoor volleyball.

“I excelled at beach a little bit more than the other blokes, so a lot of the coaches from the beach volleyball program, the Volleyroos, were sending me to places to perform there, which was pretty cool,” said Croft.

He has since exclusively focused on indoor volleyball and one day hopes to make the Australian national team.
“That is one of my big goals,” he said. “I hear about all the older guys I’ve seen in Canberra who are on the national team and playing with professional teams in Europe and it’s definitely a lifestyle I want to follow.

“I’ve been lucky to have a three-month training camp with the Volleyroos. That was last year, so that was really cool, just getting to know the guys and how the coaches work.”

But first, there are U SPORTS goals to accomplish. 

Poplawski is quick to point out Croft is carving his own path at MacEwan, but there’s no doubt he’s the best attacker he’s had in the program since Max Vriend (2015-20), who is one of only 28 players in Canada West history to reach 1,000 career kills.

“Max kind of created a culture and set a tone here,” said Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski. “Almost all of our offensive metrics, it’s Max at the top of all of them. We haven’t really had that dominant attacker since he’s left, and I see Mitch having that potential to carve his own path here – he plays a different position as opposite/left side and Max was opposite/middle. 

“As far as the raw physical size and the talent, he’s absolutely the best attacker we’ve had since Max left.”

So far, Croft has accounted for 44.7 per cent of the Griffins’ attack (46 of their 103 kills), which is similar to what Vriend used to do, particularly in the 2019-20 season when he led Canada West with 317 kills (41.7 per cent of MacEwan’s attack).

“We know right now teams are very much game-planning against him,” said Poplawski. “As a team, we need other guys to get going. If they are keying on him, it opens up other guys. Obviously, it’s been tough with this rotating cast of characters in and out of our lineup. But that’s a big thing for us this weekend. We know U of A’s a big, physical blocking and serving team. They do everything well. They’re going to put a lot of attention on Mitch, so we need other guys carrying some weight offensively. 

“It’s not fair to him that it’s just him carrying the load. We need other guys going to help him out as well.”

Griffins head coach Brad Poplawski addresses his team during home-opening weekend against Trinity Western (Robert Antoniuk photo).

That’s easier said than done as the Griffins have half the starting lineup that beat U SPORTS No. 12 York in preseason on the shelf. Injuries have held back one of the most promising MacEwan teams in men’s volleyball program history, so they’re merely making due at the moment.

“I think we have some really good young guys who can potentially be really good at this level,” said Poplawski. “What I’m asking from them as a coach, honestly isn’t fair. Five months ago, they were playing club volleyball and now I’m asking them to go out and put up double digit kills against U of A? That’s not fair to them. 

“We want other guys going, we work on it in training, we try to teach them to be problem solvers, we try to teach them score different ways, but five months ago, they were playing against 18-year-olds and now they’re playing against the best team in the country.”