Hawthorn Senior Coach Sam Mitchell said the Hawks are preparing “diligently” for their clash with North Melbourne on Saturday at UTAS Stadium.

Speaking to the media on Thursday morning, Mitchell also commented on Aidan Schubert’s upcoming debut and the strength of Hawthorn’s alignment with Box Hill, having paved the pathway for eight players to make their brown and gold debuts this year. 

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

On Aidan Schubert

“He's an exciting young lad. When we first got him, he was still 17, and I think his birthday's in late December. He'll come in as the second ruck and a key forward. We needed a bit of ruck backup with Ned Reeves having been doing a fair bit of that, and unfortunately, he's fallen out of the side now with his kidney laceration. But Aidan’s a great young man. He's very family-orientated. He's got on the phone straight away… and the boys are really excited to play with him.”

On the importance of Box Hill

“I think every team in the competition would love to have a strong VFL program, and we've been enormously fortunate for, certainly my whole time, having the Box Hill connection. It’s been a great thing for this football club, but also for Box Hill Football Club. I think the synergies between them, the way that we work together, the organisation of that football club and our football club and how we've come together is an enormous part of the success of Hawthorn. If you look back through the premierships or finals that Box Hill have played, and how many future AFL premiership players have played for Hawthorn, um, that is a littered list, and we hope that continues. So, having Box Hill competitive at the top of the ladder, playing against good teams, and playing a strong brand, that means that when players come in, someone like Ollie Greeves, he comes in and he looks ready when he plays, and I think Dave Mirra's running a really good program there.”

On North Melbourne

“I think their running profile in these last couple of years has really improved, and I think Sheezel's one of the best and most consistent players in the competition, and they've got McKercher now who's become a prolific ball winner. Their midfield with LDU and Simpkin and these guys, I think they've got a lot of depth through that part of the ground, and their potency in the front half is pretty well documented now with Trembath adding a whole other dimension to them and Larkey's been a star for a long time. So, I think with the potency of the way that they play, they're not a side you can give 10 minutes because they can put a big score up really quickly. So being able to strangle them down and make sure we can lock the game down when we need to, I think will be a really important part of the game, and something we're preparing quite diligently for.”

Watch Mitchell’s full press conference below