Hawthorn Senior Coach Sam Mitchell was delighted to see both Jack Gunston and Mitch Lewis put pen to paper on new deals with the Hawks. 

As announced on Wednesday, evergreen veteran Gunston inked a one-year deal to extend his career into a remarkable 18th season, while Lewis committed to the club for a further four years amid a career-best year so far in 2026. 

Speaking to the media just moments after the Lewis news went live, Mitchell commented on both contract extensions, while also declaring that star midfielder Will Day would face the Bombers on Saturday at the MCG. 

We summarised the key points from the Hawks’ coach’s press conference below. 

On Mitch Lewis re-signing

“It’s a big day for him in particular. I’m pleased. He obviously had a couple of pretty injury-interrupted years, and for him to get back - and he worked really hard - like he went overseas and did a trip with Jack Price, our rehab coordinator, and I think those two have spent so much time together. You'll see a video on socials later when Jack presented the contract and told all the boys about it. Most of them already sort of knew, I guess, but there was a bit of emotion in it because they'd spent so much quality time together and getting back up off the canvas, you know, probably ranks as one of his highest achievements as a player.”

On Jack Gunston re-signing 

“He's playing great footy for us. He's been really important, and even the game against the Tigers on the weekend, I thought they did a lot of work on Jack, and they really defended him in a specific way, which allowed Mitch to be the one who got freed up. Even though Jack didn't perhaps statistically have his best game, I thought he was still really important to the win. I've been consistent in saying it's not just what he does on the field. He's so important for us in culture and leadership development and how our players are growing on the field, but also off it in how they prepare and all those things. So he's doing a great job in all of those areas as well. Physically, he's been in great shape. And credit to him, like he's taken some risks with how he's developed. I think as you get older, you need to edit your training, and I think our medical staff- I’m probably a bit biased, but I think we're the best in the business in that area in figuring out how we can get the best out of our players. For someone like Jack, who's had some injury-interrupted seasons and probably some difficult-to-manage type of injuries, I think he's done a great job, but he's been surrounded by a team who have helped him, and that's going to give him the longevity that we would love him to have. I'd love him to play indefinitely.”

On Will Day and Jack Ginnivan’s availabilities 

“He's fine. He'll certainly play. It was very minor. He could have played last week, and I thought I was clear in my presser last week saying he's being managed. He could play, but we needed to rest him for one of these games, and so we decided that one. Ginni will certainly play as well, so very much just managing your list in the winter months is important. Those guys are certainly going to play against the Bombers.”

On Essendon

“We prepare pretty closely for Essendon and make sure we know what their strengths are, and they brought a lot of heat and pressure on the ball on the weekend, so we know that we need to get all of those basics right, and then, positionally, making sure we can set up in a way that's going to cause them some trouble as well.”

Watch Mitchell’s full press conference below