Tom Mitchell (Australian footballer)

Tom Mitchell
Mitchell playing for Hawthorn in 2018
Personal information
Full name Thomas Mitchell
Nickname(s) Titch
Date of birth (1993-05-31) 31 May 1993 (age 31)
Original team(s) Claremont (WAFL)
Draft No. 21 (F/S), 2011 national draft
Debut Round 10, 2013, Sydney vs. Essendon, at the SCG
Height 182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 88 kg (194 lb)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current club Collingwood
Number 6
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2012–2016 Sydney 065 (38)
2017–2022 Hawthorn 106 (38)
2023– Collingwood 032 0(8)
Total 203 (84)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of the 2024 season.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Thomas Mitchell (born 31 May 1993) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Sydney Swans from 2012 to 2016, and the Hawthorn Football Club between 2017 and 2022. Mitchell won the Brownlow Medal as the league's best and fairest player in 2018 and set the record for the most disposals in a VFL/AFL match, accruing 54 in a game against Collingwood during that season. He would later join them in 2023, en route to winning the 2023 AFL Grand Final and his first AFL premiership.

Personal life

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Mitchell was born on 31 May 1993, the son of former Sydney, Collingwood and Carlton player Barry Mitchell.[1] He grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell[2] and attended Carey Baptist Grammar School before relocating to Perth at 15, where he completed his schooling at Hale School. He helped Hale to two victories in the Public Schools Association Alcock Cup competition.[3]

He played juniors for Ashburton Redbacks alongside Jack Viney and Toby Greene.[4]

AFL career

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Mitchell playing for Sydney in 2013

Sydney (2012–2016)

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Mitchell was drafted to Sydney with pick 21 in the 2011 AFL draft under the father–son rule.[1] Mitchell experienced a number of injuries in 2012 and despite some good form in reserves games, was unable to break into the senior side that won the premiership.

Mitchell made his debut in round 10, 2013 against Essendon at the SCG. He received a 2013 AFL Rising Star nomination the following week for his round 11 performance against Adelaide.[5] During round 9 of the 2014 season, Mitchell played in the Swans reserves team and had a record 64 disposals (23 contested, 41 uncontested) and kicked four goals.

At the conclusion of the 2016 season, Mitchell requested a trade from Sydney[6] and was subsequently traded to Hawthorn in October.[7]

Hawthorn (2017–2022)

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In the 2017 season, Mitchell broke the VFL/AFL record for the most disposals in a home-and-away season in round 22 when he had his 749th possession, passing Wayne Richardson's mark set in 1971.[8] Following a record-breaking home-and-away season, Mitchell was named in the All-Australian team for the first time.[9] He was runner-up to Dustin Martin in the 2017 Brownlow Medal (Patrick Dangerfield polled more votes, but was ineligible due to suspension).[10] Mitchell won his first Peter Crimmins Medal in that season.[11]

On 24 March 2018, in Round 1 of the 2018 season, Mitchell set the record for the most disposals in an VFL/AFL game, amassing 54,[12] also becoming the first player to have 50 or more disposals in more than one game. Mitchell had 50 possessions in Hawthorn's Round 15 loss to GWS later that year, becoming the first player to have more than one 50+ disposal game in a season as well as the first player to have three 50-disposal-plus games (with no other player having achieved multiple 50-disposal-plus games as of 2023.[13] His 848 disposals in 2018 passed Matt Crouch's season record of 825, set in 2017.[14]

Mitchell won the 2018 Brownlow Medal, the Peter Crimmins Medal, Leigh Matthews Trophy[15] and the Lou Richards Medal. Mitchell became the first Hawthorn player to win the Leigh Matthews Trophy since Shane Crawford in 1999. On 11 January 2019, It was announced that Mitchell would miss the entire 2019 season after suffering a broken leg during a tackling drill at training.[16]

Collingwood (2023–)

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Mitchell was traded to Collingwood at the end of the 2022 AFL season.[17] Mitchell's first season with Collingwood was a raging success with the club finishing the season on top of the ladder and Collingwood beating Brisbane in the 2023 AFL Grand Final with Mitchell finishing fourth in Norm Smith Medal voting after having 24 disposals, 7 clearances and a game high 13 tackles.

Statistics

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Updated to the end of the 2024 season.[18]

Legend
  G  
Goals
  K  
Kicks
  D  
Disposals 
  T  
Tackles
  B  
Behinds 
  H  
Handballs 
  M  
Marks
  #  
Played in that season's 
premiership team
  †  
Led the league for 
the season
  ±  
Won that season's 
Brownlow Medal
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2012 Sydney 6 0 0
2013 Sydney 6 14 11 17 134 136 270 45 66 0.2 0.3 9.1 8.4 17.5 2.8 4.2 2
2014 Sydney 6 6 2 2 57 68 125 25 34 0.3 0.4 9.4 10.5 19.9 2.8 4.4 0
2015 Sydney 6 19 10 7 211 303 514 70 123 0.5 0.4 11.1 15.9 27.1 3.7 6.5 12
2016 Sydney 6 26 15 13 282 443 725 101 160 0.6 0.5 10.8 17.0 27.9 3.9 6.2 12
2017 Hawthorn 3 22 10 10 307 480 787 117 143 0.5 0.5 14.0 21.8 35.8 5.3 6.5 25
2018 Hawthorn 3 24 13 7 389 459 848 113 152 0.5 0.3 16.2 19.1 35.3 4.7 6.3 28±
2019 Hawthorn 3 0 0
2020[a] Hawthorn 3 17 2 1 172 257 429 52 75 0.1 0.1 10.1 15.1 25.2 3.1 4.4 10
2021 Hawthorn 3 22 8 5 321 433 754 98 105 0.4 0.2 14.6 19.7 34.3 4.5 4.8 25
2022 Hawthorn 3 21 5 7 239 350 589 81 96 0.2 0.3 11.4 16.7 28.0 3.9 4.6 9
2023# Collingwood 6 26 7 1 250 400 650 79 157 0.3 0.0 9.6 15.4 25.0 3.0 6.0 12
2024 Collingwood 6 6 1 1 37 83 120 11 40 0.2 0.2 6.2 13.8 20.0 1.8 6.7 0
Career 203 84 71 2399 3412 5811 792 1151 0.4 0.4 11.8 16.8 28.6 3.9 5.7 135

Notes

  1. ^ The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Honours and achievements

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Team

Individual

References

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  1. ^ a b Cowley, Michael (11 October 2011). "In the name of the father: Mitchell to follow dad's footsteps at Swans". Sydney Morning Herald.
  2. ^ "Tom Mitchell: Hawthorn star's Camberwell childhood home for sale - realestate.com.au". www.realestate.com.au. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  3. ^ Acott, Kent (26 September 2018). "Tom Mitchell's Brownlow path began in WA". The West Australian.
  4. ^ "Ash Thursday".
  5. ^ "Mitchell in the running". Sydney Football Club. 3 September 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  6. ^ Bowen, Nick (10 October 2016). "Star Swan Tom Mitchell requests trade to Hawks". AFL.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  7. ^ Laughton, Max (14 October 2016). "Hawthorn acquires Sydney Swans midfielder Tom Mitchell". Fox Sports (Australia). News Corp Australia. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  8. ^ Meldrum, Ethan (19 August 2017). "Tom Mitchell Absolutely Smashes An All-Time Record". Triple M. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Mitchell an All Australian". Hawthorn Football Club. 30 August 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  10. ^ McGowan, Mark (26 September 2017). "Dusty's late surge seals record-breaking win". Australian Football League.
  11. ^ "Mitchell wins first PCM". Hawthorn Football Club. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  12. ^ Naghten, Tom (24 March 2018). "Tom Mitchell collects record 54 disposals as Hawthorn handle Collingwood". Sporting News Media. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  13. ^ "Season and Game Records (1965-2018): Most Disposals In A Game". AFL Tables. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  14. ^ "Season and Game Records (1965-2018): Most Disposals In A Season". AFL Tables. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  15. ^ Staff Writers (30 August 2018). "Mitchell voted 2018 AFL Players' MVP". AFL Players. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  16. ^ Laughton, Max (11 January 2019). "Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell likely to miss entire 2019 season with a broken leg". Fox Sports. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  17. ^ "Mitchell arrives at Pies in a three-way deal". Collingwood. Telstra. 12 October 2022.
  18. ^ "Tom Mitchell". AFL Tables. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
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