Brandon Ellis retires after 251 games with Richmond and Gold Coast Suns
Damien Hardwick was there for Brandon Ellis’ first game and his last, and has lauded the Tigers’ tenacity and vulnerability as he calls time on his career.
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The boy from housing commission flats in North Carlton turned two-time premiership player and 251-game AFL star.
To his mentor and coach Damien Hardwick, retiring Gold Coast Sun and former Richmond Tiger Brandon Ellis “the poster boy for what sport can do” for a person. But Ellis gave back just as much as he took.
His impact on a football club cannot be overstated.
In the pre-season of 2017, months before Richmond’s drought-breaking AFL premiership, the playing group settled into their seats in an airconditioned conference room on the Sunshine Coast and listened to their teammate pour his heart out like never before.
Hardship, highlight, hero: The now-fabled ‘Triple H’ initiative that bonded the Richmond playing group and helped drive the club to its first flag in 37 years.
Ellis was the ice breaker; the first man up. His powerful story set the standard for vulnerability that would underpin Richmond’s success over the next four seasons.
“The one that signified where we were going to get to was the story of Brandon,” said Hardwick on Wednesday, following Ellis’ retirement announcement.
“That brought together a football club.
“It probably resonated with me because I was embarrassed that I knew Brandon on a superficial level (but) I didn’t actually know Brandon deep down.”
Born into nothing and raised on little more than love, Ellis had family, footy and not much else in his formative years.
At 15 he almost gave the game away when his father, Dale, was diagnosed with cancer. But his hero – who Ellis spoke proudly of that day on the Sunshine Coast – chose to fight tooth and nail, even when doctors told him it was hopeless.
Ellis has lived his football life with that same battling bravado, right down to his final game.
The Suns winger, who turns 31 on Saturday, came on as the substitute against Fremantle in round 15 – just his fourth game of the season.
Soon after he entered the fray, he felt something go in his calf. He could – and probably should – have come from the field. But in the back of his head he knew this season could be his last, and so the veteran played through the pain.
On one leg he willed himself to make an impact. With just over six minutes to play, Ellis kicked a goal to drag the Suns to within 15 points. When his teammates had started to falter in their belief, his selfless action roused them once again.
It was an understated but fitting final act of a glittering career that began with 176 games and two flags at Richmond from 2012-2019, before crossing to the Gold Coast in 2020 where he played another 75 times.
“I came on in the last quarter and felt it go at the nine-minute mark. I thought we were still in the game and I couldn’t go off because we’d be a man down,” Ellis recalled.
“I was like, ‘this could and probably will be my last opportunity at AFL level’ so I just wanted to play through it even though it probably made it worse.
“Definitely no regrets.”
Brandon Ellis bends through a beauty!#AFLSunsLionspic.twitter.com/gzcbXUW3Tm
— AFL (@AFL) July 29, 2023
Ellis had this day circled on his calendar for a while now.
He told Suns teammates of his decision to retire at a meeting on Wednesday morning. A different stage, different occasion and different people, but a similarly emotional moment to that day seven years ago when he finally let his footy family know who he really was.
“I wasn’t sure how I was going to go when I walked in and saw everyone … I didn’t want to make too much eye contact because I would have started to tear up.”
Ahead of his 250th milestone game earlier this season Ellis was asked about his relationship with Hardwick, who coached him for 180 of those. He said then that Hardwick had been there at the start and would be there at the end.
It was a sentiment echoed by his coach on Wednesday.
“I was there the first day he walked into an AFL club and I’ll be here for the last as well,” Hardwick said.
“It’s a great story. There are a lot of great stories in AFL footy, but I don’t think there’s any that have touched me more than Brandon – where he started and where he’s finished.
“He’s open about his mum and dad, who fought tooth and nail to give him everything.
“He’s played in two premierships, 251 games, got a lot of businesses … he is the poster boy for what sport can do, and more importantly with hard work and dedication, the type of man you can become.
“One thing I think will be his greatest legacy (is) the enjoyment and gratitude of the game. One of the more touching moments when we were struggling a bit, he went around and wrote a note for every single person that was playing that day about their strengths and what they brought to the club.
“When you see an 18 year old walk through the door and then see the person he becomes, you’re like a proud dad.”
“Dimma means the world to me,” Ellis added.
“He gave me a new chance at life, took me as an 18 year old out of the commission flats and brought me into an AFL environment where I was able to thrive.
“Hard work was never going to be an issue for me because I had to fight tooth and nail to get to the AFL level.
“The harder you work the luckier you get. If you work hard in the AFL industry, you’ll be able to set yourself up. I’m very lucky and privileged and grateful to play 13 years … I’d love to have squeezed a few more out, but physically and mentally I’m just done. I’m tired, I’m exhausted.”
Ellis hailed Hardwick as one of the four key football influences who helped shape him into the player and person he is today.
The others: ex-Richmond skipper and great mate Trent Cotchin, former Richmond midfield coach and now Brisbane head of football, Danny Daly, and his backline coach at the Calder Cannons, Graham Burgin.
On Cotchin: “Me and him couldn’t be any more different, but for some reason we’re so close and so connected. He’s one of my best mates,” Ellis said.
“He took me under his wing when I got to Richmond. I don’t know why, but he just did, and we’ve stayed close forever.”
Daly was Richmond’s midfield coach for what Ellis labelled his best season in 2014.
“I think he came in the top three in the best and fairest that year, so that’s probably why he’s got good memories of me,” Daly joked when told of Ellis’ comments.
“He’s a young man with a great story of his journey. Very coachable, always willing to listen, always put the team first and he’s had a great career.”
One man who didn’t earn a mention from Ellis, perhaps intentionally, given the rumours around his future, was another great mate from Richmond, Dustin Martin.
Dusty’s future beyond this year remains one of the hottest topics in footy and with his Tigers contract expiring at the end of this season, many believe he could link with Hardwick at the Suns in 2025.
In retirement, Ellis vacates a No. 4 jumper that Suns fans would love to see feature on Martin next season. Could he follow in Ellis’ footsteps and make the move north?
The retiring star says for him, trading Melbourne for the Gold Coast was absolutely the right call.
“It’s two completely different states, I’ll tell you that,” Ellis said.
“I think I’ve done it the right way. Gone down there, done my dash and came up here. I don’t know if I could have dealt with another five more years of scrutiny in Melbourne. It’s brutal down there.
“We used to complain at Richmond playing I think six away games a year – we used to hate that. Coming up here, playing the 13 or 14 away games, it makes such a huge difference. I don’t care what anyone says, it actually does.
“For interstate teams to even make finals and win a grand final it’s 10-times harder than what it takes for a Melbourne team.
“The boys are in good hands under Dimma.”
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