Sam Mitchell faced many setbacks on his journey to the AFL. Growing up he was told that he wouldn’t make it by many people because he was "too small ... too slow." He was able to push the criticism aside to become one of the best players the game has ever seen.
Mitchell was born in Box Hill and grew up with his family in the outer-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Always a player gifted with fantastic skill and poise, it was undeniable that Mitchell had the talent to make it at the top level.
In our chat with him, he reflected on his earliest memories of playing the game.
“I didn’t join a club until I was in grade six, so I guess I was 11 or 12 (years of age) at the time and I played for Mooroolbark,” he told Back Pocket Banter.
“The one thing I do remember is, I wanted to go and play for a team. I went down and asked to train, and I should’ve been in under 12’s, but I turned up the wrong night and I trained with the under 14’s and I was actually not too bad.”
Despite dominating at junior and then TAC Cup level, where he won the Eastern Ranges’ Best and Fairest in 1999, he was overlooked in the 2000 draft.
Mitchell said it was disappointing to get overlooked in the draft, but it didn’t take him by surprise.
“I mean it was obviously a tough period where you think all your dreams are finishing but you know, hung in there,” he said.
“It wasn’t a surprise, I’d played a lot of footy in front of recruiters, they’d probably seen enough of me to think that I wouldn’t make it at the next level.”
He instead joined the Box Hill Hawks in the Victorian Football league (VFL), playing a couple of games in the development squad before joining the senior VFL team and holding down a spot as the team’s number one midfielder.
He capped off the year by winning the premiership and thanks to the good form displayed that season, he then broke through to be drafted with pick number 36 in the 2001 National Draft.
CLASSY: Sam Mitchell was one of the most skilled players to ever play the game and would often use both his left and right boot to damage opposition teams.
(AFL Photos)
He began his first season as an AFL footballer in the VFL before breaking through for his debut in round five of the 2002 season.
After his first season on an AFL list, he had spent half his time playing AFL and half in the VFL. Thanks to a dominant year at reserves level, Mitchell was able to win the JJ. Liston Trophy as the VFL’s Best and Fairest player, accumulating a massive 31 votes in just 11 games.
Despite fantastic form in the reserves, Mitchell said that he struggled in the AFL side, and it wasn’t until the last game of that season that he believed he could make it at the top level.
“My first seven games in particular, I ran around like a headless chook completely out of my depth. My eighth game was a bit better.”
“My ninth game was the last game of the season against Geelong, and it was Shane Crawford’s 200th, it was the first game where I held my own.
“I finished that season saying, if I play the way I finished last season, perhaps I can give it a crack this next year and establish myself as an AFL standard player.”
Mitchell went from strength to strength in his next season, winning the Rising Star Award and showing an incredible ability to win the football. A few solid seasons followed as the star midfielder slowly became one of the premier players in the game.
The real success came in 2006 when he was named vice-captain, culminating in his first of five Peter Crimmins Medals at Hawthorn’s Best and Fairest.
The following season saw Mitchell place third in the AFL’s top honour, the Brownlow Medal. After many years of remarkable consistency, Mitchell was announced as captain of Hawthorn at the conclusion of the 2007 AFL season.
In Mitchell’s first season as captain, he managed to take the side to the promised land as he achieved every kid’s dream and became a premiership captain. This broke a run of 17 years without a flag, as the Hawks defeated reigning premier, Geelong.
He recounted the day as a special one remembering his relief when the final siren sounded and he held up the cup with his teammates.
“I didn’t play particularly well so when the game finished and we had won, the relief that I personally felt (was significant),” Mitchell said.
Listen to the full episode on the link above @back.pocket.banter.
“I remember looking over at the wing and all the players that hadn’t played in the game were coming onto the ground and just how much it meant to how many people, it was one of the more special moments of my career.”
After serving as captain for three years, Mitchell then handed over the captaincy to Luke Hodge ahead of the 2011 season.
Mitchell said the time was right and that Hodge was always destined to be the next captain, so he the club prepared him to take over in the year leading up to the announcement.
“We (Hodge and myself) chatted about it regularly, I had a son, and my wife was pregnant with twins, Hodgey was always going to be such a fantastic captain, once he matured a little bit more,” Mitchell said.
“It became clear to me amongst probably others, Hodgey was going to be the next captain and I thought to myself, why wouldn’t I start that process now of getting him involved.”
Mitchell also included that the announcement came as no great shock, given he had been mentoring and helping Hodge prepare to be the club’s next inspirational leader.
“We could spend 2010 getting him (Hodge) up to speed with what’s required for a captain, so that’s what we did from early on in the year, so it was certainly no surprise for me when it came to the best and fairest night, and we announced it”.
Freed from the metaphoric shackles of captaining an AFL footy club, Mitchell produced close to career best form over the next few seasons, polling 30 votes in the 2011 Brownlow Medal to finish runner-up alongside Richmond’s Trent Cotchin in 2012.
In bizarre circumstances involving Jobe Watson and the Essendon supplements saga, Mitchell and Cotchin were presented their Brownlow Medals in a private ceremony late in 2016, where many former and current teammates were unable to attend.
CHARLIE: In 2016, Trent Cotchin (left) and Sam Mitchell (right) were retrospectively awarded as the 2012 joint Brownlow Medallists after Jobe Watson handed back the medal due to Essendon’s ongoing supplements saga.
(AFL Photos)
“That part of it wasn’t ideal, I remember we flew back to Melbourne and none of our Hawthorn players who I’d played with could come because they were on a training camp in Queensland,” Mitchell said.
“My kids were there. It was really important that I was able to share it with them.”
A dream run followed which saw Mitchell a vital part of the Hawks’ three-peat as they won successive premierships from 2013-15, while Mitchell won his fifth and final best and fairest in 2016. This feat only behind the great Leigh Matthews who took out the award eight times.
The realisation that they had achieved something so profound was overwhelming to Mitchell. It will forever go down in history as a wonderful moment in the career of one of the greatest Hawthorn players ever.
“It’s obviously a highlight of your career to play in any premiership, let alone multiple ones,” he said.
“Being a part of a club that is successful but remains at a high level of success for a longer period of time, they’re good moments.”
Mitchell then made the move to the West to play for the Eagles for one season, before becoming assistant coach and helping the team to a premiership.
After two years with the Eagles, he returned home to the Hawks, where he served as an assistant coach for the AFL side and the VFL Head Coach. After growing into these roles nicely, with a refined and intimate knowledge of the game, he was promoted as the senior coach of the Hawthorn football club ahead of the 2022 season.
STAYING INVOLVED: Mitchell has went into coaching following the conclusion of his playing career and is currently taking Hawthorn through a rebuild to help build the club's young talent.
(AFL Photos)
From a man who was countlessly overlooked in his junior days and ahead of drafts, the Hawks great was able to establish himself as one of the best players with unrivalled foot skills as well as being a fantastic captain and leader of the football club.
Mitchell finished his AFL career having played 329 games (over 300 for hawthorn), as well as being a four-time premiership player, five-time best and fairest, three-time All-Australian and a premiership captain.
He currently serves as Hawthorn’s senior coach and will look to keep the Hawks’ connection going for years to come.
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