Heartbroken Sam Mitchell discusses Darcy Byrne-Jones' dagger 😟 | Hawks Press Conference | Fox Footy

Sam what's your what's your emotion right now um disappointment mostly probably a whole bunch of other things in there but um enormously disappointed I thought the players um they left it all out there just went I mean there's three close ones in a row we've one two and could easily have been a similar situation we've handled those close games pretty well and the rational part of my mind thinks I'm sure there's some positives in the game somewhere but my uh the emotional part of me is just not feeling any of them just at the minute so we competed with a good side and we fell just short did so much right though as you said must be hard to see the positives but did so much right do you think it's obviously one that got away from you guys in the end I mean of of course I think U looking back with hindsight lots of things you would do differently players coaches um you know think they just ran us down at the end and so I think there'll be a lot made of the last minute or two minutes or three minutes but probably the last um even 45 minutes of the game you know how we could have just found a way to couple to score again and kick a couple more and um so I was enormously proud of the efforts of the players our pressure was enormous I thought for the day would really cause them trouble I thought they didn't they weren't able to play the game they would like I don't I haven't obviously heard Kenny speak but I imagine that they didn't want to play the game in the manner that it was played so we caused them some trouble um we thought the pressure and the work rate of our players was was what we would need coming to a hostile environment um you know we knew we wanted to try and take the crowd out of the game and we were able to do that for for large parts of it um and so to fall short when you do so much rights yeah pretty disappointing for us what's it like in the in the Box in those final couple of minutes I mean as for you as a coach do you feel a bit helpless or or did you see stuff that you know you'd like to have seen differently if that makes sense from your players or yeah I mean we've done we've done a fair bit of work on close game scenarios and putting oursel in winnable positions was something you know that I've spoken about regularly and we're able to put oursel in a winnable position but not win it so we've still got some work to do on how to handle those situations I think in the Box okay if we kick the next goal this is the plan if they kick the next goal this is the plan um and we we actually executed that stuff not too like the last the last minute was not too bad um you know we had players where they needed to be and playing in the way that we we we gave oursel a chance and 5 Seconds wasn't long enough to get a score back despite that disappointment I mean it is another piece of evidence for your players that they are heading in the right direction do you feel like that sort of override the disappointment in time oh I don't I actually have no answer for that um it doesn't feel like it right now I think when you look back in a month's time perhaps we'll say oh well that was a game where we learned we learned some things um I mean I think we've been we've been talking a lot about the standards and the that we hold each other to and and and I think as a as a Hawthorne fan you want to know what you're going to get when you turn on the TV and you watch a hork um and for the most part you give a lot of ticks you know I thought if you I think the Hawks fans who weren't able to make their way over here watch that game and said I'm proud to to support that team um they're young they have a go you know they're always trying all right to the end body language is good um looks like they're having fun out there the environment um but the standards that we hold ourselves to need to be at a level that wins more of those games and and so some of the some of the mistakes we make are same ones we've been making and so those ones we need to learn if they're new you know lots of new things especially you know a guy like Ethan Philips he plays his first game he's learned an enormous amount today and he's going to be much better um for that game whereas some of the players who are more established you know it's how consistent can they be in their actions how predictable can they be to their teammates and the more predictable you are to your teammates the uh the more likely you are to get to get good results and we just weren't able to get um often enough the plan executed and the and we just couldn't we couldn't take the key moment you know that was a couple at the end that we could have taken um so it's enormously disappointing and the territory battle was one that was on your turns for three quarters and then they flipped the the script dramatically was that just them do you feel like it was them chancing their arm and taking risk as they had to or did you guys do something a bit different in that fourth quarter that you'd take back they've been in that situation a lot I think G overlo um territory is really important and I thought that they the way they set the game up in the last quarter was was pretty was pretty smart we um we you know wasn't our plan to play in a defensive man we would have loved to continue to score and find a way and that's our growth I'm sure one of the learnings from the game I haven't um finished ruminating on it yet but thinking about how we can find ways to score when we're in front because the natural instinct is to is to tighten everything up and play conservatively and and as a result I think the inside 50 count in the last quarter was like 22 to 4 or something um we lose contested possession by 20 so we end up you know with plus 17 in that stat at three qu time so we lose the contest and we lose the territory battle and how we can as a young group fight against human nature which human nature is telling us tighten everything play conservative um and we want to probably find a way to do the opposite particularly in the first period of that quarter um so once once they got the heat up and we just couldn't control The Narrative of the game in the last 10 minutes how do you balance your message to the players after that then I mean touched on that there was so much good stuff and then you don't get the results but how how do you I guess balance the the pros and cons from that game and in what you tell you play players or the message to your players oh it's too early um now to know what the the key message out of it is I think um we've already had a brief chat around the standards that we hold ourselves to and it's it's you know the details in your in your preparation and in your game CU it's you know if you got a few extra steps of highs speed running if you've got a you know slightly better acceleration off the line so all the liter details of the game like the absolute Basics that no one see all the work that's done behind closed doors um you know you can't we obviously look technical tactical aspects of the game that'll happen during the week but you know we you a good teammate today will you how can you improve as an individual how can we improve as coaches how can we make sure we're set up as best we can um I'm sure there'll be some positives I'm sure we'll look back at that and show some bits of play but at the moment it's just such a Miss opportunity you know coming to playing against one of the best sides of the competition on their home deck um you know with the young side it was an exciting challenge for us that we knew we would have to be at our absolute best and we were just off that too cliche to say it's part of The Growing Pains of a young group and all that sort of yeah I don't really feel like I need to say that I think the growth in the group in the last um we got a genuine touchup by the swans a couple of weeks ago and I look at that team and I thought you know what we and I said after that that we actually tried pretty hard in that game and and I look at the where the effort I don't think anyone watches that game with a oh hor on AR you know it's not a lack of effort I don't think anyone say says that um maybe the system wasn't perfect maybe the um you know key moments weren't taken but I think you look at our growth over the you know even 12 months ago we got beaten you I think they were 95 points up here at halfway through the third quarter so we're making we're making steps we're making progress but um you know you can go you can keep taking steps forward but you need to take gains and you need to take scalps when you get the chance to take them and we had a chance today and we we let it sleep one more do you like hard working defense or for likes this ground uh you don't have another one do you I wouldn't want another play cck but I mean CJ CJ's numbers his running numbers were ginormous and we sort of didn't really want that um so the chance of him you know the chance of injury once you get significant fatigue increases so we thought um we needed to to probably make the call with him um and so that meant we had to make a move and I kind of wanted him at both ends but you know he's been a fantastic player for us for a long time and I'm glad he's getting some reward it always felt to me like he was capable of kicking a few goals in the forward line I hadn't quite clicked for him yet even today he kicks it like you I think kick for in the first quarter and finishes with five so there'll be but I think he's going to be you know a continued work in progress in in his role and where he can play but he's obviously a fantastic asset for us thanks