Tom Mitchell

Thomas James Mitchell (born 31 May 1993) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans , Hawthorn Football Club and Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Mitchell while playing with Hawthorn won the Brownlow Medal as the league's best and fairest player in 2018 and set the record for the most disposals in a VFL/AFL match, accruing 54 in a game against Collingwood during that season. He would later join them in 2023, en route to winning the 2023 AFL Grand Final and his first AFL premiership.

Personal life

Mitchell was born on 31 May 1993, the son of former Sydney, Collingwood and Carlton player Barry Mitchell. He grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell and attended Carey Baptist Grammar School before relocating to Perth at 15, where he completed his schooling at Hale School. He helped Hale to two victories in the Public Schools Association Alcock Cup competition.

He played juniors for Ashburton Redbacks alongside Jack Viney and Toby Greene.

AFL career

Sydney (2012–2016) Mitchell was drafted to Sydney with pick 21 in the 2011 AFL draft under the father–son rule. During round 9 of the 2014 season, Mitchell played in the Swans reserves team and had a record 64 disposals (23 contested, 41 uncontested) and kicked four goals.

At the conclusion of the 2016 season, Mitchell requested a trade from Sydney and was subsequently traded to Hawthorn in October.

Hawthorn (2017–2022) In the 2017 season, Mitchell broke the VFL/AFL record for the most disposals in a home-and-away season in round 22 when he had his 749th possession, passing Wayne Richardson's mark set in 1971. Following a record-breaking home-and-away season, Mitchell was named in the All-Australian team for the first time. He was runner-up to Dustin Martin in the 2017 Brownlow Medal (Patrick Dangerfield polled more votes, but was ineligible due to suspension). Mitchell won his first Peter Crimmins Medal in that season.

On 24 March 2018, in Round 1 of the 2018 season, Mitchell set the record for the most disposals in an VFL/AFL game, amassing 54, also becoming the first player to have 50 or more disposals in more than one game. Mitchell had 50 possessions in Hawthorn's Round 15 loss to GWS later that year, becoming the first player to have more than one 50+ disposal game in a season as well as the first player to have three 50-disposal-plus games (with no other player having achieved multiple 50-disposal-plus games as of 2023. His 848 disposals in 2018 passed Matt Crouch's season record of 825, set in 2017.

Mitchell won the 2018 Brownlow Medal, the Peter Crimmins Medal, Leigh Matthews Trophy and the Lou Richards Medal. Mitchell became the first Hawthorn player to win the Leigh Matthews Trophy since Shane Crawford in 1999. On 11 January 2019, It was announced that Mitchell would miss the entire 2019 season after suffering a broken leg during a tackling drill at training.

Collingwood (2023–2025) Mitchell was traded to Collingwood at the end of the 2022 AFL season. Mitchell's first season with Collingwood was a raging success with the club finishing the season on top of the ladder and Collingwood beating Brisbane in the 2023 AFL Grand Final with Mitchell finishing fourth in Norm Smith Medal voting after having 24 disposals, 7 clearances and a game high 13 tackles.

His last two seasons were marred by a series of injuries that restricted him and he missed a lot of games. Mitchell was delisted at the end of the 2025 AFL season, after 3 seasons at Collingwood. He announced his official retirement in January 2026.

Statistics

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