Sam Mitchell’s relationship with Jack Gunston goes back a long way. Having shared three premierships together, Mitchell now proudly serves as Gunston's senior coach.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday morning, the Hawthorn coach reflected on Gunston’s career as he approaches his 300th game this weekend.

Mitchell also spoke about how the team is preparing for the Eagles and his reflections on last Saturday’s draw with Collingwood at the MCG. 

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

On Jack Gunston 

“He should be really proud of himself first and foremost. When I met him in 2012, he was one of the sort of younger, up-and-coming types who got moved around. He was playing as a spare behind the ball, he played on the wing, and now, he’s refined his craft to the level that he has, where he's just so dangerous in front of the ball. The thing about Jack, and I hope this is taken respectfully, is he actually physically doesn't have an attribute that makes him the star that he is. He does it through craft and guile, and the way he has been able to play 299 games up to this point with such a presence in the game and being a big game performer, he's really been an extra assistant coach for me and a person to talk to when I need a bit of understanding about what might be happening within the group. I loved playing with him. He was easy to kick to, but he's great to coach because his level of game understanding on what the team needs, what he needs to do and how to improve the people around him has been absolutely first-class. I couldn't speak more highly of his growth as an athlete, but more importantly as a person. I think he's been phenomenal for us this last couple of years in particular.”

On the team’s form at the moment

“We know where we're at, and we're not playing our absolute best footy, but win this week, finish top four. So, we know where we're at, and this is the best position we've been in in the last three years. The public narrative and how we perhaps feel emotionally because of expectation is a bit different, but we know that our best is right up there, and we need to find a way to produce it when it matters, and that time is coming.”

On West Coast 

“I think everyone has watched West Coast and recognised them as a threat. I think their win-loss isn't indicative of how good they are. They've had some closer games and their best footy has been potent. I think they kicked something like 2.14 after quarter time on the weekend. So, the expected score of their games is significantly different, and we know that they're a team with some real threats, and we certainly don't take them lightly. We know that this will be their last home game of their season, and they'll leave everything out there, so we're certainly preparing for that with absolute laser focus.”

On the draw with Collingwood 

“We looked at a few things (in our review). We thought they moved the ball a bit too easily at different stages, and we probably isolated our defence at times and made it really difficult for them. The way we set the field up wasn't always as consistent as we would like, so we had a bit of an education session around that type of thing. I think momentum was the other one. We had some great momentum which we maintained for a period, which got us right back into the game and got us a bit of a lead, but then we gave it up. So, how do we manage momentum in games, when opposition have a run on, but also when we do? They're the main things that we focused on.”

Watch Mitchell’s full press conference below