Hawthorn head of football responds to Tom Mitchell’s complaints about his treatment by the Hawks in 2022

Hawthorn’s head of football has hit back at Tom Mitchell’s criticism of his treatment by the Hawks saying ‘robust’ feedback is necessary in a high performance environment.

Tom Mitchell playing for the Hawks. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Hawthorn head of football Rob McCartney has defended the club’s method of providing feedback in the wake of former Hawk and now Magpie premiership player Tom Mitchell’s claims that the treatment he received last year left him feeling “like absolute s***”

McCartney said on Wednesday he had reached out to Mitchell this week after his comments on his Ball Magnets podcast that he had been unfairly targeted in game review meetings at Hawthorn last year.

Mitchell said his treatment at meetings and the coaches’ limited use of him through the midfield during matches in 2023 meant he had no option but to seek a trade to the Magpies.

But McCartney was steadfast in the Hawks’ culture and in the club’s approach to feedback to players, insisting that was a necessary part of a professional sporting environment.

“I obviously listened to Tom’s podcast and I heard his account of some of the events that involved receiving feedback for him during his time at Hawthorn,” McCartney said on SEN.

Tom Mitchell on the field for Hawthorn in 2022. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“I have actually since spoken to Tom and importantly I have acknowledged how he feels.

“But in contrast to that, I have also listened to Will Day on our PCM (Peter Crimmins Medal) best and fairest night … and how he shared similar honest feedback he received and how it was the catalyst for important reflection, behaviour change and resulted in improved individual and team performance.

“There is no escaping that feedback is a required component and it is probably the lifeblood of a high performance environment.”

Mitchell was scathing of the Hawks’ feedback sessions, saying he felt as if he had been singled out and led him to conclude the key decision makers wanted him out of the club.

“I knew they wanted me out,” Mitchell said on the podcast. “I knew as soon as Round 1, Round 2 (last year). Some funny things happened.

“There was one particular meeting I remember — and I don’t want to come across as (though) I’m complaining, this is more just how I was feeling and how I felt I was being made to feel.

“And I chat with Dylan Moore, Finn Maginness, Will Day, these guys who are some of my good mates still — we call it ‘the Tom Mitchell game review’.

Tom Mitchell pictured with Isaac Quaynor after the 2023 grand final. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“That was the signed, sealed, delivered (moment); I knew after that meeting, ‘I’m not coming back here next year, whatever happens, I’m not coming to Hawthorn’.

“There were something like five or so clips of just me. There were a few that were fair … but I got barrelled at this meeting; all five clips (were of me) and that was the meeting done.”

“I walked out thinking, ‘Are you serious? This is unprofessional, unfair, (it) made me feel like absolute s — in front of everyone, and that happened a few times.”

McCartney said the club’s core of young players accepted that “robust and honest conversations” were required for the Hawks to progress to the next stage of development.

“What I have noticed about our young emerging group is that they want to get better every day, and they have made the decision within, that there is a need for some robust and honest conversations,” he said.

“When that happens you need to be able to exhibit the behaviours that are accepted within the group, and when you don’t, there needs to be conversations around that.”

Originally published as Hawthorn head of football responds to Tom Mitchell’s complaints about his treatment by the Hawks in 2022