A rover, Elshaug made his league debut in 1979 with Melbourne and by the age of 19 was representing Victoria in interstate football.

After a short stint with Collingwood in 1988 he finished his career in the Victorian Football Association with Dandenong, whom he captain-coached to the 1991 premiership.

[1] After retiring from playing AFL football, Elshaug was a premiership playing coach at Dandenong (VFA) in 1991, then moved straight into a role as regional manager for the Eastern Ranges, in the newly established TAC Cup, which had only just replaced the former VFL/AFL Under 19s competition.

After two years at Eastern, Elshaug became an assistant coach to Denis Pagan at the North Melbourne Football Club.

He resigned from his coaching in the middle of the 2010 season for personal reasons,[1] then returned to St Kilda as the recruiting manager in 2011.