Star midfielder Tom Mitchell says he isn’t letting his current status as Brownlow Medal favourite distract him as he prepares to run out for his 100th game this weekend.

Mitchell, who arrived at the Hawks at the end of 2016, claimed outright favoritism for the medal after Fremantle skipper Nat Fyfe was suspended ahead of Round 12, but says that winning the award isn’t something he’s even considered.

“I suppose people might say that that’s silly, but I think if your focus is on that your focus is on the wrong thing,” Mitchell told media on Tuesday.

“My focus is on just improving every game I play, even at training today, focusing on the little things and then hopefully the little things come out on game day and that’s where your improvement comes from.”

In the midst of arguably his career-best season – Mitchell leads the competition for disposals with 415 so far – the onballer praised the impact of his Hawthorn coaches since his arrival at the club, with assistant coach Brett Ratten given particular mention ahead of the milestone match.

“[Ratten’s] been great for me, obviously he was a player who probably played a little bit similar to the way I do,” Mitchell said.

“He’s been massive for my game especially last year when I first got to Hawthorn and even to this day I’m still learning things off him every day, how to deal with different things each week and I couldn’t thank him enough for all the hard work he’s put into me.

“I think under the guidance of ‘Clarko’ and Brett Ratten and Scotty Burns, our midfield coaches, I think they’ve taught me a lot about the game and I’ve definitely improved in certain areas.

“But I’m still looking to get better in a few other areas as well.”

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The 25-year-old also said he was looking forward to seeing what the Hawks could do over the course of the rest of the season with the side currently outside the top eight on percentage only.

“I think if we can get a win this weekend and get some momentum rolling our way it’s going to be exciting for the rest of the year,” he said.

“We know if we keep working hard and focus on our improvement areas, things can change pretty quickly for us.”