Hawthorn Senior Coach Sam Mitchell is wary of St Kilda’s strengths as his side aims for back-to-back wins on Thursday night at Marvel Stadium. 

Speaking to the media on Wednesday afternoon, Mitchell also paid tribute to Neale Daniher and his legacy. 

Ahead of the Round 12 clash, the Hawks coach also spoke about Will Day, Jack Gunston and Jack Scrimshaw’s availability. 

We summarised the key points from his press conference below. 

On Neale Daniher’s sad passing 

“The world's a slightly worse place for not having him in it anymore. And I think the legacy he's left behind is so significant and will last for a very, very long time. I went down the slide a few years ago. I actually ran into their board doing a planning meeting a few years back and had a bit of a chat with them all, and all the work that goes into what they've done to fight MND. I think it's a great example of what people can achieve against all odds, and we had a chat with our players about it today. There are probably some of our guys who don't really remember him as a player or as a coach, but with the legacy he leads, he's just generational now. Our thoughts and love go out to everyone associated with his family.”

On Will Day’s availability 

“We'll make some decisions later today, and you'll find them out at 6:20 tonight. We know that he's on his way back. He's excited to be back playing footy. I said last week in my presser that I just hope he enjoyed his footy and had a smile on his face. I thought even the soreness post-game, he said he missed that feeling, in a sense. That feeling is horrible. You wake up the day after a game, and you feel like you've been run over by a truck, and he hadn't felt that for a while. I was pleased to have him back playing, and we'll make a decision (on whether he plays AFL or VFL) in the next 24 hours.”

On Jack Gunston’s availability 

“He's a test. He moved okay yesterday. He's got a couple of things to do today, but in a couple of hours, they'll let me know, and then you'll know a couple of hours after that. But if he becomes medically available, he'll certainly play.” 

On the Saints 

“It doesn't feel like there's any easy weeks in the AFL, does it? If you look at the results of last week, I don't know how everyone's tipping is going, but it's quite a difficult year, and I think that tells you about the evenness of the competition. I think you look at the competition and it's so even, and we see the Saints, they were in front against Freo in the last quarter in Perth. They're playing some really good footy, and we know that the Saints and Ross Lyon-coached sides are historically really difficult to play against. Being able to create enough threat and enough scoreboard pressure on them is going to be important for us, but by the same token, they've proven that they can score really well, and I think the potency that they've got with the way that they're playing at the moment has been first-class. We need to perform well tomorrow night.”

On Jack Scrimshaw’s availability 

“I think he's frustrated. He was sort of managing a little bit of knee soreness for a couple of weeks, and he ended up falling out of the side, and then his other knee, he ended up having a jarring incident at training. The medical team did tell me some sort of technical term. He wasn't available for AFL selection this week because we play Thursday, but if he gets through the next few days without incident, then he'll play some minutes for Box Hill on Saturday, and then he'll be sort of available after that. But it's been a really frustrating block for Jack because he's been a really important player for us, and he just sort of fell out of a bit of form because he's carrying a couple of things. So it's a bit frustrating for him, but I think if you can get through these next three or four days incident-free, then he should be okay after that. Hopefully, we'll get him back pretty soon.”

Watch Mitchell’s full press conference below