Hhhhmmm, seems I'm in the minority! LOL
Must admit I'm a little surprised but everybody has raised some valid points, each to their own I guess. Will be interesting to see how he goes against the Swans this week in his new role, he always gets tagged out of the game against them. Definitely his least favourite team to play against.
Also, some interesting stats I came across....
Hawthorn Clearance Averages:
2013 - 37.5 (Ranked 7th in the comp)
2012 - 41.6 (Ranked 1st)
Sammy's Clearance Averages:
2013 - 4.3 (Ranked 42nd in the comp)
2012 - 6.4 (Ranked 11th in the comp)
I'm keen to see how his role changes as the year progresses, if at all.
Remember that was over a full year, in comparison the sample size is skewed towards only playing the better teams, so the stats are not padded by playing the easy beats, and we are still 7th on that stat, which is pretty damn good.
With regards to Sam Mitchell, we should be looking at the big picture, not focused on a single game. His movement to HBF for the first half has the following positive points: -
1. Increases learning curve of other mids/development - look even Rough has started centre square this year as a midfielder (not ruck)
2. Increases flexibility of the team - allowing in close games/injuries more options
3. Increases Mitchell's flexibility via him able to successfully take on other roles
4. Keeps petrol in the tank fresh, for the last quarters in close games (which in previous years we have been poor in - especially against Geelong) When Mitchell would be one of our coolest heads in a crisis.
5. Makes the Hawks less predictable, so the opposition can not just say we will tag Mitchell in the middle.
6. Last year in the prelim/GF we had a number of players already spent - this is a way to manage the workload for now and towards the pointy end of the season to allow the players to be fresher (especially after an opening 7 rounds that we have)