Sam Mitchell - Retiring at the end of 2017

[The Jet From Poowong]

What a career, what a legend. And to top it off, did not toe the AFL line and publicly called out the dopers for what they were, cheats. Systematic doping with injections. I am sure James saw it from some French cafe and lapped it up.

Onya Sammy. Well deserved plaudits

 

[threesixpio]

hero of the people. Post of the year.

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Not since Martin Luther's 95 Theses has someone stood up to an organisation with as much conviction as Sammy did on that day. You know it

 

[threesixpio]

Never forget.

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Whenever I see this image I hear angels singing

 

[threesixpio]

Absolute superstar, who will be a fine coach, due to his drive to achieve success.

Some of the West Coast boys are in for a tough time.

I worry about that work ethic with younger players - whether it will be too much for them. But I think this generation of young players are likely less inclined to f*** around

 

[DrEvil_]

One of the bravest around? Are you f***** kidding me?

Well clearly not as brave as Essendon

 

[kane249]

Best Hawthorn midfielder not named Lethal.

His trolling of the entire Essendon team/fanbase is still one of the finest acts on the footy field I've ever witnessed. For all the genius about his ability I doubt anything will ever trump that.

Legend.

The jimmies continue to be rustled to this day

 

[beta_condition]

Well clearly not as brave as Essendon

He's brave he's just not Essendon brave.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Awesome player over a long period of time, exquisite foot skills and extraordinary vision. The fact that he was such a dirty little sniper tarnishes how he will be remembered by most fans and the footy public. It is what it is.

LOL

Only Essendon clowns will try to remember him this way. Just as they try to remember the systematic cheating regime lead by their Golden Child as a mere 'supplement saga.'

Keep the laughs coming.

 

[Brad Goodman]

I won't really remember him for the jab, more so the way he defied physical limitations and carved teams up on a scarily regular basis.

 

[DrEvil_]

I won't really remember him for the jab, more so the way he defied physical limitations and carved teams up on a scarily regular basis.

The jab is cream on the cake.

 

[frenchconnection]

Nah, as I said he was a great player who just happened to be a dirty sniper with it. You gotta take the good with the bad and there was an awful lot of good with Mitchell. The kneeing stuff (and there were plenty of times where he tried it but it didn't come off) was pretty appalling and because of it he's not as widely liked or respected as he could have been. It is what it is.

Speak for yourself - don't try and include others in your opinion. Even before he came to the Eagles had nothing but admiration for Sammy. I thought the "injection" episode was quite funny!

 

[Superstar swan]

Was he a dirty sniper ? Yes

Would he put his body on the line for a contest? Yes

Was he a cheeky campaigner ? Yes

Was he one of the best players the game has seen? Absolutely

I have no problem with players playing a little dirty, (draw the line at sucker punches) but only when said player would happily put himself in harms way and not shirk a contest. Sam mitchell understood this is a physical game and played the game accordingly.

Awesome player and very enjoyable player to watch. Hope he is as cheeky being a coach

 

[HairyO]

That is just another example of the sort of person he is.

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Reminding Essendon that some people are disgusted at them being involved in the largest doping scandal in the history of team sports in the entire world?

What a MONSTER he is !!

BTW: still havent seen anyone list his top 10 snipes. I assume the list is easy to make, because he had such a long career being a sniper?

I won't really remember him for the jab, more so the way he defied physical limitations and carved teams up on a scarily regular basis.

Its amazing how infrequently he got tackled, despite his lack of foot speed. And he was always able to be in the right place at the right time.

Even managed to kick a couple of goals in his final ever game.

 

[HairyO]

Was he a dirty sniper ? Yes

Would he put his body on the line for a contest? Yes

Was he a cheeky campaigner ? Yes

Was he one of the best players the game has seen? Absolutely

I have no problem with players playing a little dirty, (draw the line at sucker punches) but only when said player would happily put himself in harms way and not shirk a contest. Sam mitchell understood this is a physical game and played the game accordingly.

Awesome player and very enjoyable player to watch. Hope he is as cheeky being a coach

Someone who gives and gets isnt a sniper. People need to actually think about the role of an actual sniper. They dont trade shots.

 

[hk89]

I won't really remember him for the jab, more so the way he defied physical limitations and carved teams up on a scarily regular basis.

I think there was a time earlier in his career when Pies fans were the only non-Hawk fans that really rated Sam Mitchell, as he seemed to save his best games during that period for Collingwood.

 

[Brad Goodman]

I think there was a time earlier in his career when Pies fans were the only non-Hawk fans that really rated Sam Mitchell, as he seemed to save his best games during that period for Collingwood.

Two players we never seemed to be able to stop were Sam Mitchell and Brent Harvey.

 

[ashep]

BTW: still havent seen anyone list his top 10 snipes. I assume the list is easy to make, because he had such a long career being a sniper?

After all the shit you've flung at Goodes....

You first mate.

 

[HairyO]

After all the shit you've flung at Goodes....

You first mate.

Easy first few. Sliding in to players with knees or feet first. Took out Gibbo doing that. Its what started the Hawthorn supporters booing him. He also did it to Taylor Hunt from Geelong and Jacob Surjan from Port.

Then we can go after a few of his stray elbows. Van Berlo and Godfrey copped them in 2007. In 2008 he was charged 3 times. He had another run in with Hunt in 2015 when he was at Richmond too.

But Goodes was incredibly successful at getting charges thrown out and often not even getting cited for many others were. But Im sure this is mostly due to having good legal representation. Not because he was protected by the Sydney Discount.

So how is your list going?

We can also play the "what about players who hit Mitchell, rather than just the ones Mitchell hit" game. Mitchell copped a huge number of hits over his career, as most inside players do. I dont recall him ever complaining about it. Often would downplay the severity of hits too.

 

[PerthBoy86]

He served us well, great decision-making, keeps his head under pressure, added that invaluable experience, hope he will help us going forward in a coaching role.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

I worry about that work ethic with younger players - whether it will be too much for them. But I think this generation of young players are likely less inclined to f*** around

They'll either fall in behind him, or he'll burn them.

 

[Guardian Hawk]

Hodge up there too. Mitchell's consistency every single game vs Hodge's big game performances. Not sure how you can rationally split the 2.

I absolutely love Hodgey and reckon he is in the mix for top 10 Hawk of all time but I reckon you can split the two - Mitchell was a step above and definate top 5. This view is supported by:

1. The club - Mitchell won the Best and Fairest 5 times to Hodge's 2. Mitchell also placed 3-4 more times. This is pretty reflective of their careers, with Hodge having a better season in '05, '10 and arguably '08 (50/50 to me). Mitchell has had the better season basically every other year in their 17 season journey.

2. The coaches (and umpires) - In a survey about 2 years ago, a few coaches names Mitchell the best player in the league. 1st tag nearly always goes to Mitchell and Mitchell has many more coaches votes over the journey (nearly double). Brownlow medal voting is pretty consistent with that too.

3. Past players and media - Mitchell recently featured in the top 25 players of the AFL era as voted by past players. Mitchell also has won 2 Lou Richards medals, Herald Sun POTY, 3AW POTY, etc, etc. Hodge has not won any such awards.

4. Record books - Mitchell holds a stack of AFL records - most clearances all time, (equal) most Brownlow votes all time, most 30+ possession games all time, most disposals in a finals series, etc.

5. Us (the avid fans) - Most polls on the two have strongly favoured Mitchell despite most on here really not liking him. On the Hawthorn board, we have done 5-4-3-2-1 voting week by week for years (Yabby medal). I could only find the threads as far back as 2011 and Sam Mitchell won in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016! His only miss was 2014 when he missed 9 games and still finished 3rd! Hodge has not won in that time.

Hodge is a brilliant captain and champion player but despite some of the above owing to positional differences, Mitchell does just shade him over their careers in the opinions of many.

Even 'big game performances' I would argue Mitchell is at least on par. Hodge has won 2 Normies as we all know and had some big finals but Mitchell has been unbeleivable in finals too. 13 times in finals he has had 30+ disposals, 50% more than any other player ever. Of Mitchell's 26 finals, he has been named in the best 3 players in his team 20 times! He has had 29+ disposals in 17 out of 26. He was named Best Finals Player at Hawthorn twice in premiership years (Hodge none). He has been runner up in 2 Norm Smith Medals.

I even had a look at the Hawthorn board's votes in finals (2012 - 2016 is all we have). Mitchell has received an astonishing 48 votes in that time. The next best was Hodge with 28 votes. Of the 15 finals we have played since then, Mitchell polled in 14 of them! (Hodge 9). The only game he did not poll was the 2013 GF when he got the hard tag from Crowley.

Mitchell has undoubtedy been our best of this era.

 

[Toump Ass]

Easy first few. Sliding in to players with knees or feet first. Took out Gibbo doing that. Its what started the Hawthorn supporters booing him. He also did it to Taylor Hunt from Geelong and Jacob Surjan from Port.

Then we can go after a few of his stray elbows. Van Berlo and Godfrey copped them in 2007. In 2008 he was charged 3 times. He had another run in with Hunt in 2015 when he was at Richmond too.

But Goodes was incredibly successful at getting charges thrown out and often not even getting cited for many others were. But Im sure this is mostly due to having good legal representation. Not because he was protected by the Sydney Discount.

Goodes faced the tribunal five times and was found guilty four of those times.

Mitchell consistently hit people with his knees until the media called him out on it.

I don't consider either dirty players, but I think your post is full of shit.

 

[HairyO]

Goodes faced the tribunal five times and was found guilty four of those times.

Mitchell consistently hit people with his knees until the media called him out on it.

I don't consider either dirty players, but I think your post is full of shit.

Consistently? Name 4.