Hawthorn AFL Senior Coach Sam Mitchell was full of praise for the entire football club following his side’s 34-point Semi Final win against Adelaide on Friday night.
The Hawks have now set up a mouthwatering Preliminary Final clash with archrivals Geelong under Friday night lights at the MCG this week.
However, while Mitchell acknowledged it was an exciting time to be a part of the Hawks faithful, he insisted that this team has bigger aspirations for season 2025.
Speaking to the media post-game, the Hawthorn coach summarised the win and highlighted some key players, addressed what’s to come this week and discussed how last year’s Semi Final heartbreak compares to this year’s victory.
We summarised the key points from his post-match press conference below.
On the Semi Final win
“We put three goals on pretty quick, but we had our troubles after that, they got back to even pretty quickly. We really struggled to get it out of our back half. They played really well in that middle period of the first quarter. Playing here, this is a phenomenal stadium, the Adelaide fans were enormously loud, and we couldn’t hear when we were speaking on the phone to the bench, that’s how loud it was. For the players to be able to handle that stadium emotion and feeling and still fight back after having a lot of momentum, I thought that was a really important part of the game. It’s a pretty exciting time to be a Hawks fan, to be a Hawks coach, Hawks player or Hawks staff member. I think everyone goes into work on Monday pretty optimistic and hopeful of what we can achieve, but the prelim weekend is not the aim.”
On the upcoming Preliminary Final
"Every prelim, it doesn't matter who's playing in it, is going to be massive. Every club wants to be here. The fact that it's Hawthorn-Geelong probably adds a little bit of extra spice. And hopefully we can pack out the 'G and make it make a great spectacle, and that the brown and gold army comes out and leaves on top.”
On how last year’s Semi Final compares to this year
"I sat here at this exact table this time last year, heartbroken by the loss and the missed opportunity of what could have been. Everyone had a level of pain and understanding that getting that far is really difficult and enormously hard work.”
On facing Geelong on Friday night
"You have got to have a huge amount of respect for the teams that just back it up year after year after year - and Geelong are obviously one of those. I'm sure you'll (the media) plant them as the favourites, which they should be. They're a very sound team, they have been here before, and they're annoyingly good. And hopefully it's our turn to get rid of them."
On Jack Gunston’s performance
“I’d love to say that we had this plan, and we knew that he’d be this superstar, but I’d be completely lying. We hoped that he would have some sort of on-field impact, but when he came back, it was really clear chatting with him, your biggest influence that we want you to have is we want you to support this young group. It’s quite an eclectic sort of group. If you put all the names up without Gunners, you don’t know what you’re going to get, sometimes two years ago. Now the level of consistency of the other players all comes from the leadership of him and Luke Breust. Luke Breust is not performing on-field at the moment, but he’s still having a massive influence. He’s still over here, he’s still travelling with the team, he’s still supporting the team, he’s still coaching during the week, and I think Adrian Hickmott and those two, what they do with the forwards to grow that group is massive. What he’s (Gunston) done on the field has always been considered as a bonus, he’s certainly done more than what I thought he’d be capable of. But full credit to him and the medical team for getting him as fit and as good as he’s been.”
On Jai Newcombe and the midfield group
“He’s played really well for us, he’s been really important. I think he’s had a couple of quieter games against Adelaide, so I think for him to stand up so strongly and be so reliable for us, but I think the whole midfield group performed really well. It was probably Josh Ward’s best game, you would argue that it’s the best game of his career. And to do it on that stage is pretty good. I thought Worps (James Worpel) was outstanding, his composure with ball in hand, the ruck battle was pretty impressive, Nashy (Conor Nash) was sort of able to half keep (Jordan) Dawson in check, he’s very good and got off a few times, but I thought there was a level of solidarity among our whole midfield group which meant we were able to get the ball in our front half and lock it in much better than last week, so that was some good growth for us.”
On Sam Butler’s efforts
“There was a key moment with Butsy where he had this really difficult low ground ball, and he just attacked it with a level of ferocity and toughness. It was just one of those moments, like for me, when I think back on this game, that will be that one moment I remember. If I were to say, ‘Why did we win this game?’ I think that would be that one moment.”
Watch Sam Mitchell’s full press conference below
