Hawthorn Senior Coach Sam Mitchell is expecting a big response from his side against Melbourne on Saturday at UTAS Stadium, following their disappointing performance last time the two teams met at the MCG during Sir Doug Nicholls Round. 

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Mitchell said that while the Hawks took lessons out of the Round 10 game, Saturday’s match would present a different challenge, which the side needs to be prepared for. 

While the brown and gold will be without Nick Watson in Launceston, the Hawks coach spoke about the excitement of bringing debutant Matt Hill in to replace him, explaining some of the special things he can do on the field. 

Mitchell also touched on Watson’s hamstring tightness, Conor Nash’s neck injury and the Demons’ form overall. 

We summarised the key points from his press conference below.

On Nick Watson missing this week’s game 

“I'm going to call it an injury because he's not playing, but I'm not even sure you would call it that. So he's overloaded in his hamstring, which means the risk of further damage is there, and we don't want to take that at this time of year with a player like him. I suspect he'll be fine for next week.”

On Matt Hill 

“Hilly's one of those players that when you're around the club, he's got this big smile on his face, and he went from a very heavy weights program, low running, into a very lighter weights program and a lot of running. Took him some adjusting from the physical aspect of the game, but there were some things that he brought from rugby straight away. If he's on the mark, I wouldn't suggest you try to take him on, and tackling him, I'd be a little bit careful, too, because he's got a few tricks up his sleeve. So they're the areas he obviously brings enormous weapons for us that we're excited about. He's lightning quick and does some great things around the ball. As far as the big picture of footy, he hasn't played hundreds of games since he was a little kid, so there are some parts of the game that he’s still continuing to learn, but really excited that he gets his first opportunity to pull on the brown and gold.”

On the Demons

“I think with Melbourne early in the year, everyone was watching them and were not sure (about their strength as a side). I think everyone's sure now; they're a good side. They’ve got potency with a lot of their individual players, but also their system. I think the way they play is conducive to strong high-level footy in big games and big moments, and we weren't able to get it done last time. We weren't even close to their level of intensity around the ball in particular, and we learned some lessons from that game. Now do we go back and look at that game? Obviously, we do the same way they do, but it'll be a very different game. Games of football are a bit like fingerprints, they're all different. So this will be a different game, but some of the framework of this game, we need to make sure we're in a much better position to perform consistently for the four quarters than we were last time because they taught us a bit of a lesson.”

On Conor Nash’s injury 

“Unfortunately with Nashy, it is a bit frustrating. We've got a few details coming, getting a couple of expert opinions over the next few days. I think next week we'll be able to have a bit of a better idea (of his progress), and once we have more of an idea, we'll be able to pass that through to you. But he's enormously frustrated because he doesn't feel that bad, but he just is still struggling to be able to get back into playing position. So unfortunately, no progress for Nashy.”

Watch Mitchell’s full press conference below