A league premiership player for North Adelaide in 2018, former West Broken Hill Robin Mitch Clisby will assume the role of Roosters Under-18s coach for 2024. He succeeds long-time servant Craig Brooks in this crucial role.
Clisby has had a long and fruitful career with North Adelaide, both as a player and now in the coaching ranks, after relocating from Silver City. “Mitch coached our Under-14 Youth Squad for two years and managed the Reserves side this season,” explained Neil Sanders, the Talent Manager at North Adelaide Football Club.
“Being from West Broken Hill Football Club, Mitch will continue the work of North Adelaide Football Club in ensuring that Broken Hill juniors gain exposure,” Sanders added. “He will also provide opportunities for them to play in the SANFL Intrastate Under-15 Carnival, and to progress through the SANFL system, as Mitch himself did, if they so desire.”
Mitch Clisby boasts a decorated career as a player at Prospect, having played 154 league games from his debut in Round 14, 2010, against the Eagles, alongside Dylan Dempsey and Simon Potts, through to 2021. After three SANFL League seasons (2010-2012), Clisby was drafted to Melbourne, where he spent two years on the Demons’ list, playing eight AFL games and participating in VFL football with the Casey Scorpions.
In 2015, he returned to the Roosters, celebrating his 150th senior match for North during the 2021 campaign. He also represented South Adelaide alongside primary school friend Lachlan McGregor in a Haydn Bunton Cup state match in 2016 at Adelaide Oval. Clisby additionally participated in a pair of Foxtel Cup games in 2011 and has played 43 Reserve-grade matches between 2008-2011 and 2021.
Alongside his major achievement—the 2018 Premiership, where North charged from the elimination final to win the flag—Clisby also played in a second SANFL League Grand Final in 2020. He served as the Roosters Club Captain during both the 2016 and 2017 campaigns.
At the league level, he won the Best Club Man award in both 2015 and 2016 and placed third in the Barrie Robran Medal count for club best and fairest in 2018 and fourth in 2012. He was named the North Adelaide League team’s Young (Rookie) Player of the Year in 2012 and displayed leadership qualities early in his career, having been the Roosters Reserves Captain in 2010.
Clisby, who has a young family including twin daughters, comes from an educational background and is expected to transition smoothly into this role.
Footnote: Alongside Uncle Trevor, the Clisbys rank fourth in terms of most games represented by a family, following the Pashs, Lindners, and Robrans.
