Coach Sam Mitchell's direction for the club

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Carl Spackler

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Exciting times ahead. A thread for info on what Sam is planning for the team.

Sam is going to introduce a lot of change

New coach Sam Mitchell has promised “an enormous amount of change” over the summer but made clear he wanted to keep senior players including captain Ben McEvoy, Luke Breust and Liam Shiel.

“We are going to go to the drawing board, we will have a lot of new staff and have a lot of planning and developing with the way we want to play, with how we want our structures and leadership to look,” he said.

“There is going to be an enormous amount of change with a head coach.”

“Part of the speed at which we want to try to rebuild this program and playing group is that we have we got some really good experienced players, the Ben McEvoys and Luke Breusts and the Liam Shiels of the group. They bring such great leadership so the more games we can get into players playing alongside some of our veterans the quicker they can improve.”

Sounds like:

* Lots of list change on order
* Lots of turnover in staff
* Lots of game play change
* New team leadership group
* Lots of games pumped into young players.

(mods, move or change as appropriate, thanks)
 

perrdan86

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Exciting times ahead. A thread for info on what Sam is planning for the team.

Sam is going to introduce a lot of change



Sounds like:

* Lots of list change on order
* Lots of turnover in staff
* Lots of game play change
* New team leadership group
* Lots of games pumped into young players.

(mods, move or change as appropriate, thanks)


I'd really like to see what Mitch and his gameplan can do with that group of Mitchell, Wingard, JOM etc plus the players returning from injury. They looked really quite good on the weekend.
 

SammyC

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As uneasy as I am with the change, it’s undeniably exciting.

I hope we improve the attacking side of our game, but nice free flowing football without defensive structure or undue reliance on defensive pressure on the ball rather than structure as well is fools gold.

Carlton and essendon won’t play finals for that reason, and syd (everybody’s Smokey!) aren’t serious contenders for that reason. Can’t concede 100 to essendon and be real deal.

yes ball movement needs to be more aggressive but reliable defensive structure is a non-negotiable.
 

Stottzy

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I am excited for change. I'm one that thought it was time for Clarko to move on and for fresh blood and fresh ideas to come in.

David Parkin, someone I rate highly when it comes to football said that he is one of the best 2-3 coaches in the country.

Great times ahead.
 
Nov 13, 2018
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Sounds like 2004/05 all over again.
It might well mean TOM/JOM/Wingard are given options.
I hope none are pushed out, but if one is to leave, Mitchell is the one we could probably cover best and get the most for in return.

It's a good draft for midfielders in the top end, so maybe we will get lucky.
 

MasterSamurai

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When fit, we have easily the most exciting backline in the competition, Day, Sicily, Scrimshaw, Jiath Hardwick and Impey are as good and exciting backline going around.
Our Frwd line is a work in progress imo. Build it around Gunston, Breust and Lewis with improvent from Moore Kosi and Brockman .
The ruck situation seems fine with Reeves, McEvoy and ceglar as depth.
İt's the midfield group that needs a rocket up its clacker and I trust in Sammy to get the best out of them . I mean, he did nab 4 premiership's and a Brownlow so the players surely will hold him in high regard and respect his opinions.
What's done is done re-clarko and I understand that it was a cluster* but we MUST move on for the betterment of the club!
 
It sounds like our coaching lineup will also be very different.
Sam will want to bring his own people which is totally understandable.

Much to look forward to I feel.
 
“We are going to go to the drawing board, we will have a lot of new staff and have a lot of planning and developing with the way we want to play, with how we want our structures and leadership to look,” he said.

This is intriguing.
 
When fit, we have easily the most exciting backline in the competition, Day, Sicily, Scrimshaw, Jiath Hardwick and Impey are as good and exciting backline going around.
Our Frwd line is a work in progress imo. Build it around Gunston, Breust and Lewis with improvent from Moore Kosi and Brockman .
The ruck situation seems fine with Reeves, McEvoy and ceglar as depth.
İt's the midfield group that needs a rocket up its clacker and I trust in Sammy to get the best out of them . I mean, he did nab 4 premiership's and a Brownlow so the players surely will hold him in high regard and respect his opinions.
What's done is done re-clarko and I understand that it was a clusterfu** but we MUST move on for the betterment of the club!

I love the names in the back six, but surely we need some big boys - Hartigan/Frost - in there too, right? DGB will also be awesome, but not just yet. Do we look to trade one of the exciting back 6, or can we realistically get one or two of them further up the field?
 

CHUBBSS

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As harsh as it sounds. I would trade shiels.
His output is down, but he still has trade value.
He has never really been an onfield leader that lifts for the team, nor the type that gives direction.
That's just my opinion, but that's how I see him
Did you read that, sounds like his clearly staying…

Also if you saw shiels was spending a lot of time with Nash in the game on the weekend, will be doing a lot behind the scenes with the new kids
 

CHUBBSS

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Could Sam make a surprise captains swap and make Day the captain next year, seems early but his already out best leader on the field
 
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I'd like to see Mitch's 5 year list building plan that he said he was working on.......
I assume it would be a 5 year plan to start contending? Which would age out some of our better older players. JOM (32), Titch and Wings (both 33) would be on their last legs.

What 5 years does do is have our younger players about to come into their primes.

I’d guess Mitch wants to set himself for long term success, even if that means a bit of short term gain given some of his comments, especially around hitting the draft.
 

MasterSamurai

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I love the names in the back six, but surely we need some big boys - Hartigan/Frost - in there too, right? DGB will also be awesome, but not just yet. Do we look to trade one of the exciting back 6, or can we realistically get one or two of them further up the field?
DGB and Sicily could work but only if Hartigan takes the number 1 monster Frwd of opposition. DGB will be fine at chb imo. I'm not too fussed about frost though, the types of he and O'Brien could become solid depth and not starting 22 .
As for which of the backs can play upfield? We've already seen snippets of Scrimshaw and Impey play through the midfield plus I still think Day could become a link up player between the arcs. Exciting times ahead.
 

Carl Spackler

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Moneyball: Mitchell’s green light to turbo charge Hawk rebuild

Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has backed new coach Sam Mitchell’s plan to aggressively attack the next two or three national drafts, saying it could help build the foundations of the club’s premiership...

“We knew we had to find someone who could coach the team for the next 10 years and bring together a group of players who can grow up in the club, as was the case when Clarko came in (late) 2004,” Kennett told this column.

“We had those wonderful two or three drafts after Clarko came in and those players stayed with the club through 2008, and also in the three-peat (2013-15).

“We are building again. You have to lay the base and we are doing that now.

“What we are saying to our members is we won’t be premiers in 2023, but we’ll really be back in the hunt.”

Last year the Hawks had their highest single draft selection in 15 years — pick 6 with Denver Grainger-Barras — and Mitchell signalled recently he plans to invest heavily in coming drafts.

There are two means to aggressively attack the draft: bottom out and trade players for picks.

We're in for some fun times on this forum this trade season.
 
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