Mitch Morton

Mitch Morton
Personal information
Full name Mitchell Robert Morton
Nickname(s) The Determinator
Date of birth (1987-01-28) 28 January 1987 (age 37)
Place of birth Western Australia
Original team(s) Claremont(WAFL)
Draft 44th (Father-Son) overall, 2004
West Coast
Height 186 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 86 kg (190 lb)
Position(s) Half Forward/Full Forward
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2005–2007 West Coast 12 0(11)
2008–2011 Richmond 59 0(94)
2012–2013 Sydney 12 0(11)
Total 83 (116)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2013.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Mitchell Morton (born 28 January 1987) is a former Australian rules football player who last played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Career

Morton was initially drafted by the West Coast Eagles under the father–son rule as he is the son of Noel Morton, who played 171 WAFL games for Claremont.

At the end of the 2007 season, West Coast traded Morton to Richmond[1] for the number 35 draft pick in the 2007 AFL draft. Morton was prominent and vital member of the Tigers squad, winning the Michael Roach medal as the leading goal kicker for the club this season (2009) with 41 goals. Morton fell out of favour in 2011, only managing 9 games. He was subsequently traded to the Sydney Swans on 17 October 2011 for draft pick #79.

In his first year on the Swans' list, he played the vast majority of the year in the reserves side in the NEAFL. Despite kicking bags of goals on a regular basis, Morton was denied his debut in the seniors side until very late in the season. Halfway through the year he was told that in order to have any chance of winning a spot in the seniors side he had to improve specific parts of his game that had nothing to do with his goal kicking. Having improved sufficiently in those areas along with an injury to Ben McGlynn, Morton was able to secure a spot in the Sydney side for the finals. He kicked 2 goals in the Qualifying final against the Adelaide Crows and another 2 in the 2012 AFL Grand Final against the Hawthorn Hawks, justifying the gamble the Swans took on him.[2]

Towards the end of the 2013 AFL season, Morton announced his retirement, to pursue a career in the corporate sector.[3]

Personal life

A former student of Hale School in Perth, Mitch is the brother of Jarryd, who played for Hawthorn, and Cale,[1] who has played for Melbourne and West Coast.

Statistics

Statistics are correct as end of round 22 season 2014[4]
Legend
  G  
Goals
  K  
Kicks
  D  
Disposals 
  T  
Tackles
  B  
Behinds 
  H  
Handballs 
  M  
Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2005 West Coast 12 3 1 1 13 7 20 9 0 0.3 0.3 4.3 2.3 6.7 3.0 0.0
2006 West Coast 12 1 1 0 7 4 11 4 3 1.0 0.0 7.0 4.0 11.0 4.0 3.0
2007 West Coast 12 8 9 1 64 42 106 37 11 1.1 0.1 8.0 5.3 13.3 4.6 1.4
2008 Richmond 20 17 35 16 131 60 191 80 36 2.1 0.9 7.7 3.5 11.2 4.7 2.1
2009 Richmond 20 21 41 26 188 123 311 119 56 2.0 1.2 9.0 5.9 14.8 5.7 2.7
2010 Richmond 20 12 12 12 113 93 206 52 39 1.0 1.0 9.4 7.8 17.2 4.3 3.3
2011 Richmond 20 9 6 1 63 49 112 23 26 0.7 0.1 7.0 5.4 12.4 2.6 2.9
2012 Sydney 10 5 5 2 23 18 42 13 15 1.0 0.4 4.6 3.8 8.4 2.6 3.0
2013 Sydney 10 7 6 5 36 33 69 14 20 0.9 0.7 5.1 4.7 9.9 2.0 2.9
Career 83 116 64 638 430 1068 351 206 1.4 0.8 7.7 5.2 12.9 4.2 2.5

References

  1. ^ a b Gleeson, Michael (13 June 2009). "Mitch Morton is learning the hard way".
  2. ^ Lane, Samantha (30 September 2012). "The luckiest man counts his blessings".
  3. ^ "Morton quits for corporate career". Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  4. ^ Mitch Morton's player profile at AFL Tables