By Peter Ryan
Jamie Elliott has become one of football’s biggest names after his clutch goals against Essendon and Carlton launched the Magpies into the top four in 2022.
His popularity knows no bounds with the man who carried the same name into 58 games with Fitzroy, Richmond and St Kilda between 1991 and 1996. That Jamie Elliott admits his namesake’s football feats might have caught the attention of his children a little more than their dad’s.
Jamie Elliott celebrates with Jack Ginnivan after scoring the winning goal against CarltonCredit: Getty Images
Last week his Magpie-supporting son Will ordered a Collingwood jumper with No.5 on the back as he talked his dad into dropping him and his sister off at the MCG on Sunday to watch their beloved team win a thriller.
The retired Jamie Elliott laughs at the different standing he has at home compared to the Magpies’ forward.
“He asked me the other day how many games I played,” Elliott said of his son.
For the record, Elliott played 40 games with Fitzroy, nine games with the Tigers and nine with St Kilda, as well as being a part of the Saints’ pre-season premiership, unfortunately dislocating his shoulder in that game.
He then went on to coach Darley and returned to his roots in Maryborough to kick 100 goals in a season and star in the local area for several seasons, his promising AFL career cut short through injury.
He would not mind being described as the second-best Jamie Elliott to play AFL football, either.
“I think he is a star,” Elliott said.
“During my career I was pretty much injured all the time, so I was hoping he did not cop the same rap, but he seems to be getting a good run at the moment.”
Sharing the same name has not exactly become an issue. Elliott says he only cops stick off a few work colleagues and occasionally a double take occurs if his name comes up when he uses a rewards card or something similar.
Elliott still watches football at home but admits he has not been since he attended a Tigers game early in 2000, which he recalls being the second game of long retired veteran and people’s champ Bob Murphy.
“I thought he looked pretty good and became my new favourite player because he was slight like me,” Elliott said.
A club chairman who had football talent ... yep, really
Football exploits are often lost to a younger generation, so it’s doubtful many in the football world knew that mild-mannered but passionate Lions chairman Andrew Wellington was a good enough player in his day to win a Colts League best and fairest in the wheat belt region of Western Australia.
The President’s Medal is awarded to the best-and-fairest player in the Northern Football League’s Colts competition and Wellington won it in 1984.
Lions chairman and PwC partner Andrew Wellington will be attending the AFL final. Credit: Attila Csaszar
It was a strong enough predictor of talent for Carlton’s Jack Martin and retiring West Coast player Josh Kennedy to win back in the day. But as former Lions media man Peter Blucher found when profiling the club chairman, it wasn’t an easy discovery to make as he wasn’t exactly shouting it from the rooftops.
“My playing career peaked at 17,” Wellington told Blucher.
Top spot, away ground
There won’t be any complaints coming from Geelong, but once again the Cats will play in front of a hostile crowd in a final at the MCG when they meet Collingwood on Saturday week after finishing on top of the ladder. They did the same in 2019 only to lose before meeting Richmond in the preliminary final.
They have not won a qualifying final since 2016 when current Cat Isaac Smith missed a shot for goal after the siren when playing for the Hawks. The Cats’ only other qualifying final win was in 2011 when they beat the Hawks before beating Collingwood in the grand final to win a famous premiership under Chris Scott after being written off a year earlier.
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