Ando’s shout: Xavier Ellis on Sam Mitchell’s journey, the 2008 grand final and his football career

Xavier Ellis always knew Sam Mitchell had the brain to become an AFL coach. There was just one string he needed to add to his bow.

Having played alongside him for eight years, Xavier “X” Ellis isn’t the least bit surprised at Sam Mitchell’s transition from champion footballer to respected AFL coach.

The pair first met in the summer of 2005 after Ellis had been taken at Pick 3 by Hawthorn in the 2005 AFL National Draft, Ellis going on to become a very good player in the Hawks’ 2008 Premiership. He played 86 games at Hawthorn from 2006-13 before 34 with West Coast. Ellis, 36, is now part of Triple M’s breakfast show in Perth.

Former Hawthorn & West Coast footballer Xavier Ellis with his son, Ted.

JON ANDERSON: What were your first impressions of Mitchell?

XAVIER ELLIS: I will start this by saying there are three versions of Sam Mitchell. My first day of AFL training with Hawthorn, Sam Mitchell came to pick me up at a place which was just 50m from another teammate in Tim Clarke. Sam said “sh**, I should have just got Tim Clarke to pick you up”. I was thinking “I idolise you and it’s my first day of training, that’s a bit tough”. It was a period of his life when he was solely focused on his life as a footballer, about Sam Mitchell getting better as a player.

JA: What changed?

XE: He got married and had a family, developing a softer side where he realised that routines could be broken and you could still play good football, and that not everyone was built the same as him. It was a period that made he and Hawthorn far better.

JA: The third stage of his life?

XE: You now you see him celebrating some of the stunning goals. I can’t imagine him as a player early on endorsing young players being themselves. Unlike many great players who have gone into coaching, Sam has identified that not everyone is like him which shows in the way he is coaching, allowing players to be individual is amazing.

Sam Mitchell is having a great run as coach of the Hawks. Picture: Getty Images

JA: In 2008 which teammate did you think would become a coach?

XE: Number one by an absolute mile was Sam Mitchell. He was coaching himself as a player to adapt to situations. At Hawthorn I played under Alastair Clarkson, Chris Fagan, Stuey Dew, Damien Hardwick, Adam Simpson and Luke Beveridge. Sam’s knowledge was as good as anyone but he added the softer side which was the cherry on top that he needed.

JA: As a player?

XE: Sam was a garden gnome, small, slowish, far from athletically gifted so he worked from that to a champion which must have given him enormous self-belief. I never had that self-belief, always being anxious about getting a kick.

JA: He believes he can take a player like Mabior Chol and make him a consistent footballer?

XE: I had a phone call with Sam in the off-season which we do each year. He explained his theory that when you go to a nursery to buy a pot plant that it looks beautiful, like the young kid at the draft. When you transfer it into your garden something starts to go a bit wrong, so you have to find the right soil, or the right watering It’s not the player’s problem, it’s the club’s problem to fix the plant once you get your hands on it. Chol falls into that category.

Mitchell embracing Mabior Chol after a win. Picture: Getty Images

JA: Since 2008, only two players have taken 14 marks or more in an AFL Grand Final, who were they?

XE: I know this because I got 14 in 2008 and then Nick Haynes from GWS took 15 in 2019. That hurt so tell Nick I’ve got him in the gun for breaking my record (laughter).

JA: You and Clinton Yound had big games.

XE: Clinton Young was on fire. He and I were the under-fed wingmen before Youngy hurt his ankle. I played on one of my heroes in Joel Corey, then Jimmy Bartel, Joel Selwood and the little master Gary Ablett.

JA: You must have been thinking how long has this been going on?

XE: I didn’t appreciate winning a flag as much as I should have and then lost in 2012 with Hawthorn, lost in 2015 with the Eagles and missed the 2013 season through injury.

Sam Mitchell and Xavier Ellis celebrate a goal in the 2008 grand final.

JA: You actually walked about 200m from the MCG to the 2008 Grand Final.

XE: Mum and dad had a place just across from the MCG. I would put the backpack and walk to the games, sometimes the gates weren’t open so I’d have to explain I was playing and had to get in.

JA: Looking back, are you satisfied with your career?

XE: I’m not content with my football career, I would have loved to have been a far more decorated player than a battling middle to lower tier player. But I’m content I was able to stand up in the Grand Final, of 2008. I missed three years of footy through injury which didn’t help someone who was athletically challenged anyway.

Originally published as Ando’s shout: Xavier Ellis on Sam Mitchell’s journey, the 2008 grand final and his football career