Oh what Height he’s hit: local great’s move into coaching at South Belgrave

Kristan Height was happy delivering the messages for Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell. But the man he calls ‘The Boss’ challenged him to take another step in his football journey.

Kristan Height has made a successful transition from winning flags as a player, to becoming a senior coach.

They go back more than two decades.

Back to Mitcham in the early 2000s, then Box Hill Hawks and, quite a bit later, Hawthorn.

Kristan Height refers to Andy Collins as “The Boss’’.

And when “The Boss’’ spoke about Height having to get serious with his coaching, Height followed his orders.

After an outstanding career that took in a Hawthorn rookie listing, the Box Hill captaincy, and league best and fairest medals in three major country competitions, Height returned to the Hawks in 2021 to serve as Sam Mitchell’s runner.

He enjoyed delivering Mitchell’s messages, firstly at Box Hill and then Hawthorn.

But his former coach and Hawthorn premiership defender Collins challenged him to do more.

Kristan Height makes a point at the South Belgrave huddle.

“My old mate ‘Collo’ told me to grow up a bit and start focusing on the next part of my footy, the coaching,’’ Height, 42, says.

“As much as I didn’t want to move away from being the Hawthorn runner, I suppose he had a good point, which was, ‘You can’t do this forever’.

“He said there was an opportunity to go back to Box Hill as the midfield coach just to learn a bit more and start coaching properly.’’

Height, 42, filled the role at City Oval under Zane Littlejohn in 2023 and ’24.

Now he’s back where he started, in community football, coaching South Belgrave in Division 1 of the Eastern league.

Last Saturday, he took his team to Quambee Reserve to play North Ringwood.

South went in unbeaten after 11 rounds and in the first quarter everything pointed to it being too good for North: its drive off half back, sharp skills through the middle and its forward targets, led by former Melbourne player Tim “Bull’’ Smith.

But by the final siren the hosts had taken an 11-point win to stop South Belgrave’s streak.

“In the second half, we hurt ourselves with our execution, I suppose,’’ Height was left to lament. “But their five best players all played well, so credit to them. Shows we’ve got work to do. Premierships aren’t won in June or July.’’

Kristan Height’s South Belgrave team started the season with 11 consecutive wins.

He’s relishing coaching at local level but he’s had to make adjustments.

His four years in the Hawthorn “system’’ must have prepared him well for South Belgrave?

Yes and no, he says.

“There are some things you take out of every aspect of your football career that you might use in your coaching,’’ he says.

“But there’s stuff that’s just not going to fly at local level.

“You pick and choose what you think might have an impact with the playing group. It’s a completely different standard of footy and player that you’ve got. The highest priority is training and getting skills and fitness and a game plan and structures sorted. They’re not professional footballers. Their highest priority is family and work, and then football third. You’ve got to understand that. You can’t push them too hard or demand too much more of the time they’re already giving up.’’

Height and Collins met in the Eastern league, when Collins was coaching Mitcham and Height came to Melbourne from Echuca to attend university.

It’s been a lasting and trusting relationship.

Height started playing senior football for Echuca on his 16th birthday under the coaching of Ken Sheldon, who introduced a host of young locals to his team and with Height, Andrew Kelly and future SANFL Magarey Medal star Rhys Archard formed his Goulburn Valley version of the Carlton “mosquito fleet’’.

Kristan Height marking in the Echuca jumper.

Echuca won the 2001 premiership, with Height kicking four goals in the grand final and getting the medal as best-afield.

When he headed to Melbourne, he was happy to take his football a little less seriously after spending his 17th and 18th years with the Bendigo Pioneers in the TAC Cup.

He was keener on sampling city life with his big mate Brendan Rinaldi than committing to the VFL.

“I’d sacrificed a lot of stuff to play TAC,’’ he says.

“I wanted a year or two to have fun and not really put as much effort into footy, like I’d done in the previous three or four years.’’

Given a phone number for the talented lad from the bush, Collins made contact – and quickly cut off Height’s plans to enjoy O-Week festivities at Deakin Uni.

“I told him about Orientation Week and he wouldn’t have a bar of it,’’ he says.

“He said, ‘Nup, nup, you’ll come to training instead’. So I had to miss a few things because he was demanding me to get to training!’’

Height had two seasons with Mitcham, both producing preliminary-final finishes.

Kristan Height the Hawthorn rookie.

He and Collins made the move to Box Hill in 2004, under different timelines – Height accepted the VFL offer before Collins was appointed to replace Tony Liberatore as coach.

The youngster had a fine first season in brown and gold, running second in the best and fairest and gaining selection in the VFL team of the year.

It led Hawthorn to rookie-list him. He was to last only one season, being cut when Alastair Clarkson came in as senior coach.

“Wrong place at the wrong time,’’ Height says.

“Peter Schwab was a big fan of mine. He was big on what I could do. When he got moved on, ‘Clarko’ came in and cut the list and brought in some kids.’’

He was disappointed he never had a senior game (Collins has always said Height was the best player “of his era’’ not to play an AFL game).

But in the years since he’s often thought of his axing as a blessing. He says if he hadn’t been delisted, he might not have had the journey he did in the following 20 years.

“As stupid as it sounds, I actually think I like my life more the way it’s panned out than what it may have if I had continued on that path of an AFL player,’’ he says.

He stayed at Box Hill, was appointed captain in 2006 and stayed until the end of 2007. Height liked the professionalism of the VFL, the standard of the football and the challenge of coming up against AFL-listed players. He could also fit it in his around his studies.

But he thought the focus of Box Hill Hawks had skewed more towards development than winning matches.

“Hawthorn were going through a rebuild and to their credit it worked for them,’’ he says.

“But as captain I was there to win. I wanted to play for premierships. I just thought it was time to get out and go and play with some mates,’’ Height says.

A few of them from Echuca and Rochester were at Blackburn, including coach Jeremy Campbell. He signed there too, adding to the club’s country connection. And for the next decade Height was one of local football’s most decorated players. Indeed, The Weekly Times referred to him as “Mr Medals’’.

Kristan Height was best-afield for Sandhurst in its 2016 Bendigo Football League grand final victory over Golden Square. Picture: Aaron Cook

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“I think all the votes I’ve ever received from umpires is because they’ve seen a short little tubby guy who runs around in the midfield and gets a few kicks. That might surprise them a bit. And then when I go forward for a rest I might get on the end of a couple. That’s all I can put it down to, because there’s nothing about my game that’s flashy. There’s no speed or elite 50 to 60m kicks. It’s just grunt work in and under.’’

That’s how he Kristan Height explains his run of league best and fairests. Of course, much great football rather than pity from the umpires more accurately accounts for it.

The first came in 2010, the Goulburn Valley’s Morrison Medal, after he and a few others fulfilled a promise to return to Echuca.

The second was in 2014, the Ovens and Murray’s Morris Medal, with Myrtleford.

Two years later, playing for Sandhurst, he topped the vote count in the Bendigo league’s Michelsen Medal. In a premiership year, he was also recognised as best-afield in the grand final.

He wasn’t done with yet.

Kristan Height the 2019 Whitefriars premiership coach.

In 2018, Height was appointed coach of Whitefriars (he has been with the school since 2007 and is now director of sport) and finished runner-up in the VAFA Division 2 Fullerton Medal. He won it the following year, leading the club to a premiers-and-champions season.

There were premierships too: at Sandhurst, Whitefriars and in the NTFL with Tiwi Bombers, where he was a fly-in, fly-out player from 2012-16.

Height played at clubs where had made connections. He followed Echuca teammate Brad Murray to Myrtleford as playing assistant coach, training the Melbourne-based players; took up an offer from another Echuca player, Leigh Crossman, to play with Tiwi Bombers; hooked up with fellow Bomber Tim Martin at Sandhurst, running out on the iconic QEO ground; and answered the call from Ken and Sam Sheldon when they were coaching Moama.

He has a busy PlayHQ profile, but his representative football puffs it out. Height played for the Ovens and Murray, the Goulburn Valley and Bendigo rep teams, as well as the VAFA. Selection for Vic Country was another highlight.

“Wearing the white Big V and the purple and gold (of the Goulburn Valley) was more of a career goal then being drafted,’’ he says. “Because when you live in the country, you don’t get to the AFL, especially being a dairy farmer’s son. We never went to the footy.’’

Kristan Height takes a kick for Tiwi Bombers.

Height’s last season as a player was with Friars in 2021, which Covid split in half.

While assistant coaching at Box Hill Hawks, he played a few games with Moama in 2023, taking the chance to take his young family – he and wife Melissa have three sons – back to his parents’ Echuca farm.

Last year he filled in for six games with Whitefriars teams, in one game bagging 10 goals.

And three weeks ago on a Friday night he had a run with the South Belgrave Vets, alongside his assistants Brad Flower and Dave Huglin.

The Vets had been at him to play for a while.

“I said I’d play one game at home. They were short that week, so it worked out OK,’’ he says. He kicked three goals.

But, in a non-playing capacity for the first time, Height is about coaching now – just as “The Boss’’ directed.

Andy Collins challenged Kristan Height. Picture: Andy Brownbill

ANDY COLLINS ON KRISTAN HEIGHT

“I’m a huge wrap for his footy intelligence. If you think about his own journey, he was the captain of the Box Hill footy club, he was a very significant leader at Mitcham footy club when he was 19 or 20 and he went on to be a Hawthorn rookie as well. Then he went back and captained Box Hill and then in local footy he won medals everywhere he went. He’s been head of departments with his school teaching for a long time and coached schoolboy footy. He’s good strong leadership, strong will to compete and strong will to win. It was fantastic that he was our runner but this is the very first dinkum senior coaching job and he’s got his team humming. I think his coaching journey is going to be very exciting.’’

HEIGHT’S BEST

Best played with

Echuca: Ash Byrne, Craig Sholl, Brad Smith, Brendan Power, Dylan Butler, Rhys Archard, Andrew Kelly, Andrew Briggs

Mitcham: Brendan Rinaldi, Lucas Murphy

Blackburn: Al Parton, Jeff Ryan, Hamish Leahy

Myrtleford: Brad Murray, Matt Dussin

Sandhurst: Tim Martin, Blair Holmes, Leigh Coghlan, Joel Wharton

Whitefriars: Toby McGurgan

Tiwi Bombers: Ross Tungatalum, Paul Scanlon

And against

Rochester: Tim Rasmussen, Guy Campbell, Dean Moon

Kyabram: Kayne Pettifer

East Burwood: Heath Goodall, Paul Broderick, Adam Slater, Steve Sziller, Ash Martin, Adam White

Noble Park: Will Sangster, Dan Donati, Craig Anderson, Benn Logan, Peter O’Brien, Denis Knight

Vermont: Ryan Mullett, Todd Power, Ash Froud

East Ringwood: Daniel Sheers

Golden Square: Simon Rosa, Jack Geary

Strathfieldsaye: Lachlan Sharp

The best player I have played on was Djaran Whyman. He had elite footy smarts and was always dangerous and would hit the scoreboard. Was never in the wrong spot and had to be defended all the time.

Originally published as Oh what Height he’s hit: local great’s move into coaching at South Belgrave