How Hawthorn changed the way Tom Mitchell plays

WHEN he was at Sydney, the Swans believed Tom Mitchell was a player with weakne­sses that dulled his strengths, but Hawthorn has changed the way he impacts a match, writes JON RALPH.

Tom Mitchell has amassed 10-plus contested possessions in every game he has played for the Hawks.

IN 2014 Tom Mitchell had 64 possessions and kicked four goals in a NEAFL game — and John Longmire still wasn’t prepared to play him.

He didn’t use the ball well enough, he didn’t spread hard enough, and his single-minded pursuit of the ball hampered his defensive play.

On Easter Monday, Tom Mitchell 2.0 will run out onto the MCG, and Chris Scott knows he will cut the Cats to ribbons if he has another 54 touches like he did against Collingwood.

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Sydney let Mitchell go to Hawthorn for pick 14 because they believed he was the “fifth Beatle”, a player with weakne­sses that dulled his strengths.

But he has become the fulcrum of the Hawks’ game plan, a contested ball animal that sets up their entire game plan.

And rather than give him his head, master coach Clarkson quickly ensured Mitchell stopped wasting possessions and turned him into a dangerous weapon.

Champion Data stats show Mitchell remains a relatively modest metres-gained player in an era where every coach loves that statistic.

His 729 metres gained in Round 1 far exceeded his best effort of last year (562 in his Hawks’ debut).

Tom Mitchell gives Steele Sidebottom the slip on his way to 54 disposals against the Magpies. Picture: Getty Images

But what he does is generate metres gained for his team.

Champion Data has a statistic called “assisted metres gained” — metres gained by a teammate receiving an uncontested possession.

No surprise that Mitchell leads the AFL since the start of last year in that statistic.

At the same time, his 389 assisted metres gained per game is ­better than Adelaide’s Matt Crouch (384), Essendon’s Brendon Goddard (361) and Giant Callan Ward (352).

In Mitchell’s first four games at Hawthorn his disposal efficiency was a horrific 52 per cent, giving back half of his touches to the opposition.

But under Clarkson’s inst­ruction it has soared to 69 per cent, Mitchell hitting a teammate either with a handball or a chiselled 20m kick into space.

Hawthorn has had real iss­ues with contested ball as its champions waned, but since the start of last year the Hawks have won the contested ball tally eight times.

They have won seven of those games, being so good with ball movement and scoring power that they just need to get close in contested ball to be a chance to salute.

Mitchell’s disposals efficiency has improved at the Hawks. Picture: AAP

And in every game he has played at Hawthorn, Mitchell has amassed 10-plus contested possessions, eclipsed only by Dustin Martin’s 25 matches of 10-plus in that time frame.

As Scott said at the weekend, the Cats won’t be underestimating Mitchell.

Cam Guthrie could move from defence to tag Mitchell, as he did against Martin last September, or Scott could have a rabbit in his hat.

“We have certainly got a number of options we will need to consider, depending on how he is going,” Scott said.

“There are some plans which might make it a lot harder for him, but it might make it easier for Hawthorn on the whole.

“They are the challenges we are weighing up. He is a really good player and tends to find the ball irrespective of what the opposition do.

“If he has 50 touches against us, it won’t be because we let him go, but I would contend Collingwood didn’t let him go either, they just didn’t do what they planned well enough.”

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