Intern Spotlight: Mitchell Roese

With another season drawing to a close, The Football Sack’s latest crop of interns will be attending their final games.

With the number of graduates climbing to 100 and counting, this season saw 15 new faces ready to work hard towards their dream jobs in the industry.

Throughout the season we have been highlighting some of those interns and today we’re speaking with Mitchell Roese, who has been covering Central Coast Mariners for the 2021/22 A-League Men season.

Mitchell is currently studying a Bachelor of Communication majoring in journalism at the University of Technology Sydney. By doing so, Mitchell is pursuing his goal of working for FOX Sports or Nine as a sports journalist.

By applying for and successfully getting an internship with The Football Sack, Mitchell is looking to build a portfolio of work for future employers.

“I wanted to gain experience,” he said.

“I was only halfway through my first year at uni at the time I applied and the experiences you get in your first year are more theoretical.

“I wanted to build a portfolio and try to get ahead early.”

Mitchell admits the whole experience has been a learning curve as his chosen sport is rugby league. However, he knows the skills he has learnt through this experience will be beneficial when it comes to covering all kinds of sports.

“I’ve really had to delve into the research side of things and gain a lot of knowledge on the sport,” he said.

“Coming into the back end of the season, I’m really finding my feet.”

Although lacking confidence to begin with, Mitchell says the experience has been incredible and he has learnt a lot.

“The experience has been incredible for me,” he said. “I’m only 19, and I’m doing things that people in their late 20s and 30s are doing.

“Confidence is one of the main things you have to have. You have to be confident asking questions in the press conferences because you don’t want to make a fool out of yourself but that’s all part of the learning process.

“I’m a firm believer that you have to put the hard yards in to get the results.”

With plenty of games under his belt, Mitchell says a highlight of his experience was watching the Mariners thrash Wellington Phoenix at home and being able to experience it from the press box. Another highlight, has been the connections and relationships he has made.

“I’ve created a great friendship with the Mariners media manager and their graphic designer so that’s been incredible,” he said.

Given how much he’s learnt from this experience, Mitchell knows it’s crucial to keep it going and knows none of it would be possible without the donors.

“The donors are really important for the survival of The Football Sack,” he said. “The program provides young, aspiring journalists a chance to live out their dreams at a young age.

“The more donors and responses we get, the better.

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