Mitch Morton Biography

Mitch Morton says he believes the AFL's cost of living allowance for players living in Sydney should be 20 percent, instead of 9.8 percent.

"Sydney is the most expensive place in Australia by 20 or 30 per cent," he said.

"If you have not lived up there you wouldn't understand it. Every home opening you go to there are 25-30 people trying to get the joint so you have got to pay above and beyond just to get your head in the door."

Mitch Morton says he will retire at the end of 2013.

"It has been an absolute privilege and honour to be part of this football club for the past two seasons and I will always be grateful for the opportunity the club has given me to improve," Morton said.

"The 2012 premiership will always remain the highlight of my career and I look forward to staying in close contact with my premiership teammates for many years to come."

Mitch Morton's Swans' career was ebbing away before his teammates pulled him aside and told him they didn't trust him.

"Halfway through the year some things happened … I was close to playing, but the playing group didn't trust me enough," Morton said.

"I was pretty upset about it for a couple of days when they told me that, but it really changed my life that moment.

"I made the decision, then and there, to give my life to this club."

Mitch Morton is counting his luck as he prepares to play the first Grand Final of his career at his third club.

"It's surreal. I've had 30 people tell me I'm the luckiest man in the world and I agree with them," Morton said at Friday's Grand Final parade.

Former Eagle and Tiger Mitch Morton will finally make his debut for the Sydney Swans after being in superb goalkicking form in the reserves.

"I think sitting here now, it's probably the proudest moment of my career to be able to break into a top-of-the-table team," Morton said.

"I'm very proud of the fact I've been working hard all year and have been able to take on board what the coaches have said.

"I'm very, very excited and am trying to contain my excitement at the moment and I can't wait for Sunday."

Former Tiger Mitch Morton hopes improved maturity and fitness will help him join Sydney's long list of recycled success stories.

"I've probably matured a bit the last 12 months and grown up a little bit and my fitness testing has improved," Morton said.

"I feel like I'm in a position now to really have a crack at it and I think the culture of the club has helped everyone that has come up here."

Swans recruit Mitch Morton was so desperate to impress his third AFL club that he embarked on a self-imposed boot camp in Thailand.

"Over in Thailand I did a kickboxing camp for five weeks during my break just to get really fit," Morton said.

"I wanted to get up here and run at the front of the pack and really get stuck in and have a good pre-season."

Swans recruit Mitch Morton says an increased focus on his fitness will help him find success at his third AFL club.

"Sydney is a club that everyone admires. The way they back it up every year, even when they seem to be going through transitions with their list and adding new players to the team, they're always just so competitive," Morton said.

"I'm looking forward to moving up [to Sydney], meeting the guys, having a massive pre-season and trying to impress everyone with my work-rate and what I've done so far during the break."

Richmond midfielder Mitch Morton takes time away from the club to deal with a personal issue.

"Richmond will continue to support Mitch during this time and expect he will return to the Club in the near future," Richmond said in a statement.

Richmond forward Jack Riewoldt says the young Tigers forward line that he is a key part of is coming along well.

"We've got a few new faces down there - Robin Nahas is down there and he's been lively and has had a great input, Tommy Hislop last week played a fantastic game, along with young Tyrone Vickery," Riewoldt said.

"We've got a lot of young faces down there, and Mitch Morton is almost the oldest person in the forward line, so we've got a lot of new guys down there, a lot of exuberance, a lot of youth.

"We're just trying to do our job best for the team - put on defensive pressure and hopefully kick a winning score."

Richmond forward Mitch Morton says the playing group take personal responsibility for how the team has played so far in 2009 .

"I think the players take on as much of the blame as anyone for the season we've had. We've only had two wins for the year; that's no-one's fault but our own," Morton said.

"We take a lot of that responsibility on. I know I do personally, and I know nearly every player does.

"I keep saying to people close to me that I think we're very close to turning it around, it's just a matter of when, and hopefully last weekend was the spark we needed."

Richmond forward Mitch Morton has been on the end of two very different weeks.

A mere fortnight ago he was in the hot seat after playing on in the dying minutes against Port Adelaide, kicking the ball out on the full and seeing the Power take it down the ground to kick the winning goal.

In the days that followed, it was incorrectly reported that Terry Wallace had lost his job but confirmed that Morton had felt the wrath of his coach after that game.

On the weekend it was a different story, as Morton played on to win the match against Fremantle.

"It's funny how quickly things can turn around in footy," he said.

"I'm not getting too hyped up about it, because at the end of the day I could make a big blue this week and we're back to square one.

"That's footy, you know - you've got to take the highs with the lows, and I guess I was just lucky on the weekend that I got the ball at the time I did."

Matthew Richardson says his injury lay-off gives other key forwards the chance to shine.

"In our forward line at the moment we would be looking to guys like Mitch Morton, Jack Riewoldt, Jay Schulz has been playing well at Coburg in the last few weeks, so you maybe look at Jay coming in and playing forward," Richardson said.

"But you just need heaps of guys kicking goals.

"We've still got Cleve Hughes down at Coburg, and it's a really good opportunity for these young guys.

"If they want to be key-position players, it's a pretty good opportunity for them to put their hand up and show what they can do."

Mitch Morton expresses his determination to succeed in Richmond after moving from West Coast.

"As a kid I really wanted to be a one-club player. I don't think that was going to happen for me at West Coast," Morton said. "If I am still playing footy at 28 or 29, people will only remember me for my time at Richmond."

Morton also says he is excited at the amount of young talent at the Tigers. "We certainly think we are building an empire of young kids that are going to grow into very good footballers," he said. "There certainly are a lot of kids around the joint and that is pretty exciting."