AFL 2025: Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell on meeting with West Coast captain Oscar Allen

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has responded to the severe reaction to a well-documented meeting with off-contract West Coast co-captain Oscar Allen.

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has refused to detail his well-documented meeting with West Coast captain Oscar Allen but admitted the public coverage was “far from ideal”.

Mitchell travelled to Perth and met with Allen during the Hawks’ bye which sparked mass coverage and an eventual public apology from the Eagles forward.

The undefeated coach said the public nature of the meeting and consequent attention was “certainly not the intention”.

“Not ideal that the public conversation and debate around it, putting that on Oscar’s plate was far from ideal,” Mitchell said.

“That’s the first part, hopefully it stays out of the media for now. Having said that, I think anyone who is free agency, it’s the nature of the game now.

“Meeting with coaches at clubs, and they still might stay at the club, that happens a fair bit as well … that’s the nature of the game now.”

Mitchell was asked several follow-up questions, including if he agreed with James Sicily’s “storm in a teacup” description of the event and if he felt for Allen.

He responded with a brief “yes” to both questions.

Out of contract West Coast captain Oscar Allen addresses the media after calls to step down over meeting with Hawks coach Sam Mitchell

When asked if he thought Hawthorn could still recruit Allen despite the criticism, Mitchell said: “I am not going to add any more fuel to fires”.

Hawthorn returns from the bye with a blockbuster rematch of last season’s dramatic semi-final against Port Adelaide.

The Hawks will again go to Adelaide Oval again without star midfielder Will Day after he was sidelined with a navicular stress fracture (foot).

Mitchell said Day had already been operated on and was on the long path to recovery.

“Will has been a really important player for us, he’s in better spirits than I would’ve thought he would be,” he said.

“He had surgery, which I think gives you the feeling that you’re getting better, I think sometimes if you have to wait to recover it’s like you can’t do anything.

“He’s on crutches and in a moon boot and he can tell something is healing.

“He was in this morning and I actually just sledged him on the way down because he was going home and I said ‘oh, you’re part-time are you?’

Hawthorn star Will Day had has his foot operation. Picture: Steve Bell/Getty Images

“He’s in pretty good spirits, he’ll have a week or two just finding his feet and then recover as well as he can, and then I am sure he will help me and the other coaches in making sure he can help us off field if he can’t on it.”

Mitchell couldn’t provide any further detail on his timeline, saying he was chasing the same answer.

“I actually asked the physios that exact thing today and they looked at me like they’re not sure,” he said.

“It’s really just he’s had surgery only a few days ago, they’ll wait and see how it settles, have ongoing scans and management.

“He’ll start to weight bear in probably three weeks I guess and then after that they get a bit more of an insight but three to four months is about as accurate as they can tell me.”

Originally published as AFL 2025: Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell on meeting with West Coast captain Oscar Allen