Sam Mitchell unafraid to talk 'Premiership' | AFL 360 | Fox Footy

reckon for the general football population the most anticipated game of this first weekend of the finals comes on Friday night at a soldout MCG two teams on such a rise they have so much going for them the Hawks and the Bulldogs and for Hawthorne it's returned to Prime Time as they have become box office brown and gold why do we watch the game It's Entertainment entertainment to those 40,000 fans that are there it's entertainment I think the game has grown this year from the joy of Youth it's the charge towards the final month of the Season that broke convention that's what the Hawks fans needed they are must see TV the Hawks aren't they powered by the exuberance of Youth this Brash breed of the brown and gold have done it their way in 2024 the fearlessness and flare capturing the fascination of the footy world I think it's cool right now to be a horon player they're having an absolute ball and get on board I say this is the showtime Hawks armed with fet foot small fors running towards the big moments What's it got for us wizard more he's out the back more more has kicked the goal all under the watchful eye of a senior coach who knows what success looks like it'll be a short time of reflection and then really diligent planning to to make sure that we're as well prepared as we possibly can be to give September everything we have now the showtime Hawks are September bound I love what they're doing I love healthy football arrogance embrace it for what it is wait a minute get it standings history tells us premierships are hard to win from outside the top four they're off to see the wizard The only history these hes care about is the one they're creating and every other fears what ahead just what might they achieve and how would they Cate coming soon all right coming before us on Friday night at the MCG the Western Bulldogs and the Hawks in the second elimination final we've shared the year with Sam Mitchell we were off kilter early we kept having you on all the wrong days we finally caught up it's nice to see you again Sam welcome yeah a little bit easier driving here after a win or after on positive news um I don't imagine excitement's a big issue in your corridors would it be that'd be feeling it um I mean I think it feels like it's been a long time everyone's like oh how's the week it must be exciting it feels like it's been stretched out over so long that um it's hard to know you can't keep the excitement for that long so it's really been quite down so far but main training tomorrow and then um we train at the MCG on Thursday and then we play so B up or down um oh it's been good for our boys to have a bit of a rest I think I think some of we've played a lot of really important games for a long a long block so um I love the momentum of keeping going and I haven't loved not having AFL men's footy at least in this week but um I think it was good for our boys did you so when you mentioned in Taza you would take a moment or two to acknowledge what had been achieved how did you do that with your group well we didn't actually we just did it on our own basically so we took the Monday and Tuesday um off and we just had a couple of days away from the club where we um where we just refreshed I guess and then we came back in on Wednesday we did our normal sort of game review and um treated the week you know as a preparation phase for for something that's pretty exciting you know I haven't coached a final most of our players haven't played a final and Friday nights you know most of the team haven't played in one so there's lots of excitement about what's happening has um it's just been an enthralling year we've we've loved it and well done and all that sort of stuff hwk ball is that just a player thing or is the coaches in in some ways been swept up in it at all I don't actually exactly know what it means to be honest with you you don't know what well you kind of get a vague idea but come on you sometimes the the exact language that the young people of today use is goes well over my head I don't try to I don't try to keep up with it what what I always am making sure that we focus on there's two aspects of the way we play one is the part that you guys love which is the exuberance and the the personalities and the celebrations but what we value on the inside of the club is you know those things are great but they come off the back of really good hard work you know whether that's tackling or pressure or spoils or the basics of the game we make sure that we're very heavily focused and you're more focused on that because we players can play the game they they're drafted because they got talent how much emphas is it on on the defense and defensive side of the game and making sure your man's not doing too much and working you're working together as a team all of it all of it really I mean that's all of your focus I mean I think it's a old alen jeans either we've got it they've got it or it's in dispute this game is still broken up into the basics and making sure we're as well prepared in each of those phases I think defensively this year so the Bulldogs are the best offensive team in the competition they've they've conceded 27 less points than us and I think we're fifth so there's five teams within five or six goals of each other for across a whole season like it's been unbelievably close the mental emotional side of football when when what's the fine line of talking to these players and preparing them for September Friday night 990,000 finals football and you have played but not overloading them with what's possible and etc etc how how's that balance oh it's exactly what's on my mind if I'm really honest I think you you're deal with this game there's a part of you that's like it's a normal game there still going to bounce the ball it's just a normal game we've played in front of 990,000 this year in Dusty 300 so we've been to that before so it's a normal game but there's a part of me that's saying okay it's different because everything's going to feel like it's more important how much do you talk to the players about that you want to talk to them well enough that they're not surprised by anything but you don't want to talk to them so much that that's their focus trying to get trying to get that mix is is what the next 72 hours looks like well how do you how do you get on with that mix as a coach you haven't had that experience you had it as a player so do you do you talk to other coaches or do you drag what you learned as a player uh probably neither probably my my starting point will be dealing with the players themselves and you get a sense of the room is there a bit more nerves than there would be normally is there a bit less are they going to be shocked by the intense city of this game okay we need to prepare them or do they already look like they're dealing with a lot in their heads at the moment and you need to take things off the plate I think dealing with the group you have is much more important than the stories of your own Journey so do you bounce that off sisly the captain or or a Gunston or a Bruce or do you go to the kids and say how are you feeling McDonald how do you how are you feeling W you it's it's I would love to tell you it's as formal as any of this there's a Hu like in in our meeting room there's there'll be 40 odd players there'll be 20 to 30 staff there's another 50 to 100 staff in the building so you're always bumping into people you're always having conversations you're always chatting about it and sometimes it's the staff sometimes the staff are they're already walking through the hallways going oh have was Friday night this is going to be so exciting and you got to you know okay just I know you're excited but let's just well the players are around let's just keep it calm for a bit longer are you looking forward to getting back to finals fo0 oh I'm I haven't everyone said to me oh hey you must be excited and I haven't felt um I haven't felt it yet if I'm really honest I think even talking about it right now it's probably the first time I've had the spring in my voice I'm like we're actually going to play finals footed soon and it's not hasn't really grabbed me yet I'm sure it will over the next day or two but um I think once we get into you know full opposition preview to the players the players understand exactly what matters in this game specifically once we get to those things I think it becomes more and more real the closer we get for the course of the Season which has been entrancing we know the way it starts and what it builds to is it is it beyond your best case scenario um I I always have I've been thinking a lot about this in the preseason teams we're going to make the top four we aim to make the top six we aim to for this thing I don't know I've never I haven't done that to this point of my coaching and I don't know if I will it doesn't feel like that's something that is necessary for our group where where at so I think what we've said to our playing group is the very clear goal at the start of the season was we want to be in winnable positions nine eight nine goal losses is not the team we want to be this year so we need to put oursel in winnable positions much more often than we did last year um and so when we got beaten by 12 goals to go Coast in round five it's like this is what we have to be past we cannot accept this now what's come of that we've also said no speed limit no seiling on what we can achieve but we this is the next step and whatever the next step in your progression is that's your focus not not the end game I would say that you were a process player rather than a dreamer kind of player does that have to swap a little bit as coach that you must dangle the dream carrot in front of the players or do they know or is it strictly process process process it's a good it's a good question I think it depends on your group I think the group are probably dreamy enough they probably have aspirations of a lot and so I can afford to just focus on what's right in front of us if the group was thinking just this is enough then maybe it would be my role to talk about the dreams and what could be achievable have you done that yet have you mentioned the word premise ship oh probably a thousand times over the last three years because that's have you mentioned it this week um cuz it's now I I haven't I haven't mentioned it this week um but but not deliberately if it came up I wouldn't be scared to say um I think my job is to grab the other coaches and to make sure the players are as well prepared for this game as they possibly can be some of that is what's right in front of them and I would dare say that's most of it some of it is what this means on the outside and who's going to be there and dealing with ticket requests and all the people that are watching you and um you know there's a lot of you guys in the media doing a great job um but you used to have 18 teams and now you've only got eight so everything is being watched much more closely and so long as our players understand that then you let them handle the the you know the manifestations of what that looks like comes out to the players you referenced the defense across the course of the Season what have you unlocked in your scoring in recent weeks though to to put those scores consistently together um I mean it hasn't been a focus I would love to say oh we had this great plan and we made these changes it really hasn't it really hasn't been that and it's very cliched um for me to say it's come off the back of Defense we have done probably my first two years we had a really heavy focus on offense and the defense was you're always working on it but this year we we locked down on it and I think Kate Simpson's done a really good job with the Defenders themselves I think there's obviously team defense but our Defenders themselves have had really good Seasons I think multiple Defenders have had career best years you know I think Jack scrimshaw and Sam frost in particular they've both had the best seasons of their career and I think Jam impy would be you know he if there was a second Australian team he would certainly be I think in the in the conversation for that and any hawor player who goes and watches those guys say okay they they're playing right at the top end of their ranges so I think defensively we've had a pretty sound year can to talk about the the Midfield battle I mean everyone's going to knuckle down on everything we know you're Midfield and we know the dogs Midfield is it more about oh how much is it about restricting them and stopping what they do well as opposed to continuing to do what you do well um I mean the Bulldogs are a fascinating Midfield you look at the names and they suggest you know the highest of caliber of of play and that's what you get when you watch them but the thing that's probably underrated about their Midfield is their pressure they're actually not particularly good at first possession but they're the best in the competition at stopping you create a clearance from your first possession so in in basic terms they're the best pressuring Midfield in the competition around the ball and so we look at you know bondon Pell and tror the Fantastic things that they can do and um you know we watch Liber flick it out of red Richards running and bouncing and you think about the offense but I we certainly have been well aware that defensively they're going to be they're going to make it really hard for us to play the way we so how do you combat how do you how do you prepare your team for that you might not go into great detail but for those sitting at home if if you're they're going to be a really strong defensive Center Square and stoppage team what do you have to do well to to Don't let that dominate you um well you show the players this is what they do and you say good luck the players know what good looks like quick quicker thinking quicker hands support bodies what what I would say take ER out of everything no quick er no harder like anything you do that's different to normal is is not what you're after we want to be quick and we want to be tough but if you're doing anything to an extra you're going away You're making yourself unpredictable so I think playing the right way consistently enough and they're going to be a good side and if we play our best they play their best it's going to be a great game and we have to try to produce that never heard that before take away the ear I haven't heard I haven't I haven't said it before so exclusive the We Day scenario answered itself when he got him out on the track was that yeah I mean I think medically um we were hopeful and once we found there was no no break we were very hopeful and then once a bit more research a few more specialist a lot of discussions credit to our medical team they have been Above and Beyond in in looking after will and making sure that um his interests are number one um and as frustrating it is as a coach because I would love to have him out there it wasn't going to be worth the risk in this game doesn't mean he won't play if we can if we can progress but in this game it wasn't going to be worth it and I didn't want the we didn't want the circus of you know the the double the amount of media scrutiny and him every single person that meets him says what do you think you're going to get yourself up and that that is his life dealing with that is not ideal so unfortunately we ruled him out a lot of discussions about the Bulldogs tools their point of difference and a lot of discussions about Hawthorne but they've got a really very good small to mid size forward half what's taking up again more of more of your thinking there is it a great concern their forward offensive or you are thinking how can we expose the dogs at the back with our Smalls uh it's a great question it's every coach's dilemma in a week like this where you're looking at their strengths and you're thinking about how to make sure we don't get beaten by what we know uh and then you're looking at their weaknesses and saying okay how could we potentially exploit that um I wouldn't say they're exactly the ones that you're suggesting but they're the things what would you suggest well you'll hope find out on just hoping I but I think the thing that we would always have to come back to is we have to play our best to challenge them um now we're going to have to they've got some concerns we've got some concerns about how they go about it to make sure that we're all over that but really a lot of our focus is making sure we can play our best footy and then make them make the change rather than us you know jumping jumping at Shadows before we need to five in a row at the MCG do you feel like the footy that you're playing is ideally suited to the ground where it matters most um it's funny early in the year I think we lost our first four at the the MCG and we'd won all of our games at Marvel at that stage um so so then there was a bit of a debate oh does it not suit you and now you win some games and um I mean I think we've played we've played lots of different grounds we've played in lots of different conditions I think we've got confidence we' played a couple of wet games lately um so that's given us a bit of confidence that if that was to happen we'll be okay and obviously it's it's natural surroundings at the MCG for us and um we're looking forward to it just feel like the W Hawks had picked up a bit of the M Hawks I did enjoy I like the way they I like the way they're playing we's done a really good job but the selfie after the game I did have a little chuckle to myself I thought they've uh they've got involved and practicing their celebrations and no the the W was was a really good game they played well part of the pride I know we only got a minute but the part of the pride and well done for playing finals and you know if you go on a winner it would be an extraordinary story Sam but part of the pride you must have is the the players and and the the vibe the feeling that the hathorn football club who won three flags less than a decade ago or a decade ago a are back challenging and then they're doing it in fun and the world's looking at them again saying wow have a look at how much pride have have you got in that oh I mean I think when when this group of coaches and staff when we started a lot of what we wanted to do was produce a environment where everyone could be their best and I the amount of work it's not an accident you know like so much work from so many people and obviously as the coach they put your head on a lot of this stuff but very small part of a huge organization that's all going in the same direction and I think when you have that it takes time it's taken us you know three years and we're far from finished on what we're trying to build um but to get to this point the consistency of the decisions has been more important than the one big thing that we've done at any stage and um I think there's a lot of people who would have some pride in us um being able to wear the jumper in September toic Sam thanks for coming in tonight the very best of luck on Friday night thanks go