Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell set to be rewarded with contract extension for Hawks’ rebuild

Hawthorn will reportedly offer St Kilda’s Josh Battle a massive six year deal, but coach Sam Mitchell won’t apologise for the Hawks’ aggressive approach when it comes to free agents.

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell is likely to secure a healthy pay rise on a deal about to be negotiated as the game’s hottest new coach appoints a powerhouse management firm to lead his affairs.

The Hawks are about to kickstart negotiations with Mitchell as he spearheads a remarkable finals charge for Hawthorn despite the club’s 0-5 start to the season.

Mitchell was managed by Peter Lenton through much of his career but then Box Hill president Ed Sill negotiated his first deal as coach amid acrimony over Alastair Clarkson’s departure.

Now Mitchell has joined the powerful TGI Group, formerly TLA, which has long handled the affairs of many of football’s senior coaches and coaches-in-waiting.

Mitchell’s bid for a long-term deal with more in-built protection in the case of his sacking is aided by multiple factors.

Sam Mitchell has led the Hawks’ rebuild since the departure of Alastair Clarkson. Picture: Will Russell/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

The most important is his reputation and vision for the Hawks to win premierships instead of sit mid-table and scrape into the finals.

Under last year’s breakthrough AFL Coaches Association agreement, the Hawks can structure his contract with any payout figure they want but it must be at least 12 months.

Clubs on the AFL financial drip must include a 12-month payout for senior coaches in new contracts instead of the usual six-month clause.

Under the previous agreement the Saints were able to minimise a payout to coach Brett Ratten when they sacked him soon after handing him a new two-year deal.

But while the 12-month payout clause for senior coaches applies to “assisted” clubs, the Hawks are finally robust so that arrangement does not apply to them.

As a club handed the third-least disequalised funding by the AFL last year they can structure their contract any way they see fit, which is why Mitchell is in a strong position on any potential payout clause.

Clubs are also able to exempt 20 per cent of a senior coach’s salary from their football department cap, which means coaches on lucrative deals do not hinder their club’s ability to pay senior assistant coaches.

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell is set Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

The rule was brought in so premiership coaches were not effectively penalising their club for success given they take home the big bucks.

Hawthorn received the third-smallest disequalised funding from the AFL last year _ $17.044 million, ahead of only Richmond and West Coast.

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir was able to make use of the new AFLCA deal by extending his contract by a single season to 2025 earlier this year.

While he was highly criticised for the one-year extension he revealed he had effectively doubled his own payout clause if he was moved on.

Under the changes brought in last year the payout for assistant coaches and development coaches at financially assisted clubs was boosted from three months to six months.

AFL Coaches Association chief executive Alastair Nicholson has been urging clubs to consider longer payout clauses for assistant coaches, arguing if they want to create successful cohesive cultures they can do so by giving their support staff more security.

Meanwhile, Mitchell has made no apologies for his aggressive mentality surrounding free agent targets in the off-season as the Hawks ramp up their list management plans.

Hawthorn has been strongly linked to St Kilda defender Josh Battle, who is a free agent at the end of the season, as well as injured Bulldogs midfielder Bailey Smith.

The chase for the Saints key defender has ramped up in recent weeks as Hawthorn challenges for a spot in the top eight and St Kilda topples down the ladder.

Mitchell said he and his list management team would not be doing their jobs if they were not assertive in their pursuit of potential signings.

“I think at this time of the year, everyone who’s out of contract or there are murmurs, every club is looking at it,” he said.

Sam Mitchell addresses his players at three quarter time during the game against GWS. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

“I’m never going to go into detail about which players or who’s talking to who, but I think every club in the competition is trying to strengthen their list at every opportunity there is.

“A lot of that is around the draft and the free agency period and trade period, but those things don’t happen in trade week, you need to do some preparation for it.

“Our list management team has a list of players that they’d love to be able to talk to, some of them are out of contract, and some signed seven-year deals so you can’t talk to them unfortunately.

“We have a lot of players on our list that we’d love to join our group, and when the opportunities arise I’m sure it would be the wrong thing by our list management if they weren’t contacting those players’ managers and going from there.”

The Hawks will reportedly offer Battle a six-year deal, with an $850,000+ salary likely enough to trigger a first-round compensation pick in return for the Saints.

Meanwhile Smith will have multiple suitors, with the star Bulldog linked to Geelong and Collingwood as he rehabs a torn ACL.

The dashing midfielder is out of contract at the end of the season, however is not a free agent and would likely cost a first-round selection in a trade.

Originally published as Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell set to be rewarded with contract extension for Hawks’ rebuild