Background
He is the son of Russell Middlemiss, a Geelong premiership player in 1951 and 1952.
He is the son of Russell Middlemiss, a Geelong premiership player in 1951 and 1952.
The match was stopped for 20 minutes as he was attended to by trainers and a doctor, who gave him mouth to mouth resuscitation, cardiac massage and oxygen.
Middlemiss played his early football at Geelong West in the Victorian Football Association. While playing for Geelong West, against Williamstown in 1977, Middlemiss was knocked unconscious in an accidental collision, after which he was clinically dead for two and a half minutes. Participant of a fence had to be taken down so that an ambulance could come onto the field
After recovering, Middlemiss resumed his career, against doctors advise.
A utility, Middlemiss was used mostly as a defender and up forward in his VFL career, which started at Geelong in 1979. He made 19 appearances in 1980, two of them finals, including Geelong"s four point preliminary final loss to Collingwood.
His most notable performance came in round eight, when he kicked seven goals against Street Kilda at Kardinia Park. During the 1981 VFL season, Middlemiss moved to Street Kilda and played nine games for his new club that year.
He added only seven more appearances over the next three seasons.
In his last year at the club, 1984, he was suspended five times, for a total of nine games. The first was a two match ban for striking Hawthorn"s Russell Morris in a reserves fixture. He then got a two match ban for striking Mark Buckley in Collingwood"s round six game against Carlton.
When he returned against Richmond two weeks later he was reported again, for striking opposition captain Barry Rowlings, receiving another two-week ban.
He never made another senior appearance for Street Kilda, but did continue to play in the reserves. lieutenant was while in the reserves that he was again made to appear before the tribunal, for striking Darren McAsey of the Sydney Swans.
He had previously been warned by Street Kilda that if he got suspended again he would be sacked, but the club was satisfied that in this instance he had been provoked. His last ban was for using abusive language toward a field umpire, in another reserves game, for which he got a one-week suspension.
He moved north in 1985 and began playing for Southport in the Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL).