Four-time premiership footballer and Brownlow Medallist Sam Mitchell has announced he will retire at the end of the season and move on to coaching. Known as one of the game's greatest midfielders, Mitchell can look back on a spectacular career starting as a Hawk and finishing as an Eagle.
Mitchell's career started off rocky, having been overlooked in the 2000 national draft. He then joined the Box Hill Hawks where he played a few games for the development side and was soon promoted to the senior side. He became their number one rover and participated in the 2001 premiership team. Mitchell was then recruited by Hawthorn in the 2001 national draft with pick number 36 and debuted halfway through the 2002 season and won the J. J. Liston Trophy. In 2003 he won the NAB AFL Rising Star Award. Mitchell went on to become the 2008 premiership captain, a three-time All Australian, and won his fifth Peter Crimmins Medal in his last year at Hawthorn. He participated in Hawthorn's premiership wins in 2013, 2014 and 2015, making the star midfielder a four-time premiership player. In 2012, former Essendon captain Jobe Watson was awarded the Brownlow Medal, where Mitchell and Richmond's Trent Cotchin both tied second. In January 2016, Watson and 16 other Essendon players were found guilty of taking an illegal substance during the 2012 season. Watson handed back the Brownlow Medal in November and on the 15th, both Mitchell and Cotchin were awarded the Medals. In October 2016, Mitchell announced he would consider a move to West Coast. Just a few days later, Mitchell was traded to the Eagles where he was also offered a four-year coaching role after a period of playing. The former Hawthorn champion announced his retirement last week and said that his passion for coaching outweighed his passion for playing another year at the Eagles, describing his career as a "brilliant journey". "It's no great surprise but it's time for me to hang up the little waddle and the little size nines at the end of the season," Mitchell said. "The reason for me ... Monday mornings I wake up and I've got some coaching responsibilities and some playing responsibilities. "The idea of opening my computer and and doing the coaching side of things is a bit more exciting and the passion for that has outgrown the passion to jump in the pool and do my own recovery. "I feel like the time for me is right." Eagles coach Adam Simpson described Mitchell as "all class" when speaking about the star midfielder during the press conference. "I think you've got to look at what he achieved and very, very comfortably you could say he's one of the game's greats," Simpson said. "His biggest asset is his brain and what he could do on-field and carry that body around for 15 or 16 years, multiple premierships, captain, Brownlow, All Australians, all the accolades are there. "It will take time but I think he'll grow into a really good coach." Mitchell declared that Hawthorn was his past and West Coast is his future, but thanked Hawks fans for supporting him on his move to Perth. "To the Hawks fans I would say ... thank you because it was a huge journey that we went on," he said. "I never felt anything but supported. "Not one Hawthorn fan has ever come up to me and abused me and I can't imagine there's too many people who have left a football club could say that. "I feel good that I've left them in a good position. Hopefully it's been a win-win (for both clubs)." Despite a difficult start to his football career, the 34-year old believed he "did the right thing" by training hard and working on improving himself. "I think I could always just find a way," Mitchell said. "Whatever the game threw at me, whether that was my body shape or I couldn't kick too far, I just always found a way. "I feel like early in my career I was one of those guys who gave up the Saturday nights and when everyone else was out having fun, I stayed home and did the right thing. "I'm really proud of that now. "All those sacrifices you make in the early days of your career, I'm glad that I made them now. "Sometimes it doesn't work out, but I feel like the universe looked after me and I had some success along the way — and hopefully a little bit more this year." Mitchell stated that his move to coaching was exciting after a successful football career. "I'm genuinely excited to get my teeth into it."
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