THE FORMER ruckman/forward Chris Mitchell, who died last Saturday (November 26) at the age of 75, managed just five senior games for Carlton in what was Ron Barassi’s final season as senior coach.
But the first of them was one to remember.
Mitchell, the former Geelong Grammarian, was a member of the Cats’ 1967 Grand Final twenty. He made the move to Princes Park in mid-1971 after completing the second of two stints (and 48 games in total) at Kardinia Park. The Geelong years sandwiched Mitchell’s 1969 and ’70 seasons with Western Australian club East Perth, during which time he represented WA at the 1969 Adelaide carnival.
Wearing the No.9 of current Carlton Captain and reigning Brownlow Medallist Patrick Cripps, Mitchell got the call-up for the 15th Round, co-incidentally against the Cats at the old Carlton ground - and he more than vindicated Barassi’s selection.
In a high-scoring affair, Mitchell and Alex Jesaulenko each contributed five goals to the Blues’ emphatic victory, 21.15 (141) to 15.14 (104). Which prompted The Sun’s on-the-spot reporter Bob Crimeen, to write afterwards: “Would Geelong have beaten Carlton at Princes Park on Saturday if a fortnight ago the Cats had not cleared big Chris Mitchell to the Blues? Unfortunately, this question will never be answered. But if you said ‘yes’, there is strong statistical evidence to support your belief”.
Mitchell turned out for the next four Carlton games - St Kilda at Moorabbin Oval, South Melbourne at Princes Park, Footscray at the Western Oval and finally Richmond at Princes Park – and at 24 years of age never played League football again.
Mitchell’s wife of 40 years, Mandie, believed her husband’s decision to give the game away was both football and work-related.
“He had trouble being told what to do, but he and Ron (Barassi) remained good friends,” Mandie said.
“At the time he also got a job in the mines through BHP, I think in Gove (in the north-eastern corner of Arnhem Land), and he remained with BHP until around 1983 or ’84 – during which time he took two years off to complete an MBA at Harvard.
“Later he worked for Parbury Henty grainmillers, ironically out of BHP House in Melbourne, and he found further work afterwards.”
Geoff Southby, the Carlton Best and Fairest winner in his maiden season of 1971, and a former teammate of Mitchell’s, remembered him as “a good bloke and a good footballer in his short time with the Blues”.
So too the four-time Premiership player David McKay.
“Given that ‘Nick’ (John Nicholls) and ‘Perc’ (Peter Jones) were there in ’71, it was a bit unusual that the club went for another ruckman, but Chris was a pretty good player before he came to Carlton,” McKay said.
“He was fairly athletic, he had the physique and he had the football smarts, but he wasn’t egotistical. He was a nice guy to go with it.”
Mitchell discovered the presence of three separate cancers back in March, and while Mandie conceded her husband knew his time was limited, he never let on.
“Chris was incredibly brave. He was a very strong man.”
Chris Mitchell, Carlton’s 830th senior player since the maiden VFL season of 1897, died in Geelong’s Epworth Hospital.
He is survived by Mandie and sons James and Edward – “one blessed with Chris’s athletic ability, the other with his intuitive sense of football” to quote his beloved wife.
The Carlton senior team, including Chris Mitchell on debut, v Geelong – R15, Saturday, July 10, 1971
B: John O’Connell Geoff Southby Vin Waite
HB: Barry Gill David McKay Kevin Hall
C: Garry Crane Bill Barrot John Warden
HF: Ian Robertson Robert Walls (vc) Bryan Quirk
F: Chris Mitchell Alex Jesaulenko Brian Walsh
R: John Nicholls (c) Sergio Silvagni Adrian Gallagher
Res: Phillip Pinnell Trevor Keogh
Coach: Ron Barassi
