Sam Mitchell

Sam Mitchell

DOB

12/10/1982

Height

179cm

Weight

84 kg

Junior club

Eastern Ranges/Mooroolbark JFC

Arrived

Traded from Hawthorn at the end of the 2016 season with picks 54 (Willie Rioli) and 71 (ontraded to Geelong - Timm House) for pick 52 (ontraded to GWS - exchanged for academy selection), 69 (ontraded to Carlton - Patrick Kerr) and 81 (Harry Morrison)

Number

1 (2017)

Debut

Round 1 2017 vs North Melbourne
(230th Eagles player)

Games

22

Goals

4

Honours

Premiership medal (2008, 2013, 2014, 2015 (Haw))
Brownlow Medal (2012, tied)
All-Australian (2011, 2013, 2015 (Haw))
Best and Fairest (2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016 (Haw))
Rising Star (2003 (Haw))

B&F Top 10

1 (2017)

Best Finish

8th (2017)

Last app.

Semi Final 2017 vs GWS Giants

Departed

Retired at the end of the 2017 season

Other clubs

Eastern Ranges (TAC Cup) 2000
Box Hill (VFL) 2001-2016
Hawthorn (AFL) 2002-2016

Champion midfielder Sam Mitchell played in four premierships and over 300 games with Hawthorn before joining West Coast in a surprise move ahead of the 2017 season.

Hawthorn career

Mitchell went undrafted in 2000 despite winning the best and fairest for TAC Cup side Eastern Ranges. After a strong year with Hawthorn's reserves side, Box Hill, he was drafted by the Hawks in 2001. He quickly progressed up the ranks with Hawthorn, winning the first of five best and fairest awards in 2006 and being named captain for the 2008 season. He was a premiership captain that year and, although he handed the captaincy to Luke Hodge in 2011, added three more premiership medals in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Along the way he also collected another four club champion awards and three All-Australian selections.

West Coast career

A week after winning his fifth best and fairest, Mitchell stunned the AFL world when he announced he was intending to move to West Coast to finish out his playing days, before transitioning into a coaching role under close friend and former Hawks midfield mentor Adam Simpson. The deal was done quickly, with West Coast and Hawthorn swapping several late-order draft picks.

Shortly after becoming an Eagle, Mitchell was belatedly awarded the 2012 Brownlow Medal after the original winner, Essendon's Jobe Watson, handed back the award following his involvement in the Bombers' anti-doping scandal. Mitchell and Richmond's Trent Cotchin, who finished in a tie for second place behind Watson, were elevated to joint winners.

The veteran provided some much-needed class in the midfield in his first, and ultimately only, season at West Coast before pulling the pin on his decorated career at the end of the year after 22 games in blue and gold and 329 overall.

Coaching career

Mitchell spent 2018 as an assistant coach under Adam Simpson, announcing during the year that he would return to Victoria for family reasons at the end of the season despite being just two years into a four-year contract. Shortly after the 2018 premiership win, his manager confirmed that he was returning to Hawthorn.

Stats

AFL	Gm	G	B	K	M	H	D	T	Cl	WAFL	Gm	G	B	K	M	H	D	T
2017	22	4	4	289	81	303	592	67	103	EP	0
Tot	22	4	4	289	81	303	592	67	103
Avg		0.2		13.1	3.7	13.8	26.9	3.0	4.7

Links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Mitchell_(footballer)

http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/S/Sam_Mitchell.html