By Jake Niall
Shortly after his appointment as senior coach, Sam Mitchell and his key lieutenant presented a bold 66-match plan to the club board that aimed to have a game style “embedded” that could stand up in finals.
In the first meeting of the club board in 2022, Mitchell and football boss Rob McCartney also outlined a football strategy that would prioritise players aged 23 and under and their development from 2022 until 2024, even if this meant downturns in team performance.
The Hawks say the plan did not specify they could or would play finals by this season – a benchmark they achieved, well in advance of industry projections and after a 0-5 start – but that the players would have developed “significantly” and a game style that would withstand the furnace of finals would be embedded.
Mitchell and McCartney presented this 66-game plan, in some depth, to the club board that was then led by Jeff Kennett, before he stepped down late that year, as did football director and former skipper Richie Vandenberg, whom board sources said was the key driver of the contentious handover of the coaching position from Alastair Clarkson to Mitchell.
Confirming the 66-game blueprint – which changed to 68 games due to the advent of Gather Round in 2023 – McCartney said there were two keys to the strategy that he and Mitchell had presented.
“It was about investing in the development of our players through 66 games and investing in the implementation of the game style that could win finals when our time came.”
In effect, the 68 games was treated as a development period that would set the club up for the long term.
The Hawks and McCartney agreed to provide some context and detail around the 2022 strategy after The Age learned about the plan from a senior official who served during that period.
The Hawks also resolved that, as part of the strategy, Mitchell would prioritise players who were then aged 23 and younger, who would sometimes be selected when their form put them only on the fringes of selection.
Connor Macdonald, now a key player in the Hawthorn 22, is an example of a player who has played many games in this time frame. Drafted in 2021, Macdonald has played 65 games out of 68 over his career. But he is far from the only Hawk whom Mitchell invested games in early in his career.
Sam Mitchell greets Hawks fans at Adelaide Oval on Thursday in the lead-up to the semi-final against Port.Credit: Getty Images
Calsher Dear, who has stunned the competition with his exciting performances in his first season as a key forward, also was persisted with after quiet games, but ultimately has proven worthy of his selection.
“He hasn’t looked back,” said McCartney of the unexpected contribution of a teenage father-son recruit.
Mitchell had not wavered from the 2022 blueprint, even when the Hawks were struggling with the growing pains of an inexperienced team in each of his three seasons. Hawthorn people with long relationships with the coach, such as his first AFL coach Peter Schwab, have noted Mitchell’s conviction in his beliefs.
“He has a strong enough resolve in what he believes,” said McCartney.
“That resolve allows him not to lose sight of what needs to be done even in the toughest times.”
In other details or flow-ons from the Mitchell-McCartney plan:
- The game style had started with an emphasis on attack and ball movement in 2022, before switching to focus more on defensive actions in 2023 and 2024. Their defensive improvement has been despite a relative lack of height in defence (with James Blanck missing for the season).
While this offence-first, then defence plan was not presented to the board in 2022, it was consistent with Mitchell’s coaching philosophy, according to the Hawks.
- The Hawks had changed the midfield in 2023 in terms of personnel, had revamped the forward line in 2024 and intended to bring two tall defenders, free agent Josh Battle from St Kilda and Eagle Tom Barrass (subject to trade) for 2025.
Asked if this had been a case of specific planning in 2022 or simply circumstantial list management, McCartney said: “The short answer is some of those things were part of the strategy. Some of them present as opportunities that would help the strategy.
“But you don’t always have the foresight of some of the specifics of those [changes].”
- The Hawks held a different view of their contentious decision to trade Jaeger O’Meara and Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell to Fremantle and Collingwood, respectively, than many external observers in media and AFL circles.
While there was much debate externally about whether they had cut too deeply – even with suggestions they were tanking – the Hawks had been tracking those 23 and under players who would replace the experienced pair and felt they had “shown enough” – as evident in data – that they could step up and perform without the team losing too much ground.
“The 23 and under group had shown enough at AFL level that they would be OK without a couple of experienced players being on the list,” McCartney said.
Without Mitchell and O’Meara claiming positions, young gun Will Day had been pushed into the midfield (from half-back), as had 198-centimetre Irishman Conor Nash – hitherto struggling as a high half-forward, while James Worpel regained the form that had seen him claim a best and fairest in 2019 and Jai Newcombe became an elite mid.
Mitchell and skipper James Sicily embrace after the Hawks’ elimination final win.Credit: AFL Photos
- The Hawks would plan for their next premiership around players in the “James Sicily and under” (as reported by The Age’s Marc McGowan) age bracket. Sicily, 29, had just turned 27 when this was presented to the board.
While players older than Sicily might not be there for the premiership, they would feel part of the journey to that destination. The Sicily-and-younger plan did not preclude older players such as Jack Gunston, Luke Breust or (now injured) Sam Frost from being in a premiership, according to McCartney.
- The Hawks did not see themselves as having “made it” and believe they remain only a work in progress, with progress not necessarily linear. They felt they would be better in 20 games and 40 games from now.
- Hawthorn, despite their conviction in pursuing a youth policy, had played in last week’s elimination final with an average games (per player) of 107.6, which is bang-on the number for a team that first makes finals, according to rival clubs and the Hawks themselves (Port Adelaide had 106.1 v Geelong).
The Hawks had won only twice from eight games this season when the games experience deficit (average) exceeded 25, against Collingwood (round 19) and the Bulldogs (round eight).
They had just 66 and 67 games experience average in rounds four and five.
When the games differential has been marginally in Hawthorn’s favour, they have won eight from nine, with the only loss to GWS in round 21.
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