He was picked up by
North Melbourne from
Stawell after winning the
Wimmera Football League Under 17 best and fairest award as a 15-year-old and was drafted in the
1990 AFL draft, but only played for their Under-19 team. Ellis was drafted again in the
1993 Pre-season Draft by
Footscray from the
Western Jets and debuted for them in 1994. Early injuries hampered his career but he drastically improved during the 1997 season where he took many saving marks at
centre half-back. In 2002, Ellis moved for one season to the
Melbourne Football Club, in which he had a solid year, playing 14 consecutive games, but decided to retire at the end of the season. ==Business career==