Universal Love Welcome back Sam Mitchell! Signs as an assistant coach for three years

Aug 27, 2015
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If he returns to Hawthorn as an assistant we'll know who our next senior coach is.

Otherwise St.Kilda or Carlton are the obvious ones to offer him a senior coaching job. Essendon* weren't traveling too well with Woosha earlier in the year either and there's been rumblings the Doggies aren't happy with Beveridge. Either way Sammy's a good chance to become a senior coach in 2019 or 2020.

The succession plan Eddie hatched with Buckley may have been a disaster but I'd approve of us negotiating one between Clarko & Mitch - but only if Clarko is fully on board. Many of us suspected something like that might be brewing when Mitch left for West Coast so fingers crossed.
 
Promote Newman to the seniors.

Give Mitchell the reins at Box Hill. Just like Clarko did in the SANFL and Werribee, at some point you need to coach your own team.

Couple of seasons later, Mitchell can be a Hawks assistant, then the top job once Clarko goes.
 
Aug 27, 2015
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Promote Newman to the seniors.

Give Mitchell the reins at Box Hill. Just like Clarko did in the SANFL and Werribee, at some point you need to coach your own team.

Couple of seasons later, Mitchell can be a Hawks assistant, then the top job once Clarko goes.
I like that idea. Problem is Mitch could be offered a senior coaching job much sooner if he hasn't already. Assurances would need to be given, or we could hardly blame him for taking the first senior job he's offered given how rarely they pop up & how fiercely contested between strong candidates they are.*



*Unless you're Essendon*, then everything's decided behind closed doors and the interview process is just a sham for the media
 

Flamin Joe

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I have absolutely no inside running on this but something tells me we will never see Mitchell coach a hawks side.

It's certainly a possibility we need to be prepared for.

There's definitely a big sentimentality/romance factor in wanting him at Hawthorn, much like many I remember on here were holding onto the Leigh Matthews coaching fantasy even after Clarko was first appointed.

Would love him at Hawthorn but time will tell.
 
Promote Newman to the seniors.

Give Mitchell the reins at Box Hill. Just like Clarko did in the SANFL and Werribee, at some point you need to coach your own team.

Couple of seasons later, Mitchell can be a Hawks assistant, then the top job once Clarko goes.
I think this would be a pretty good outcome & would help Mitchell in the long run

I like that idea. Problem is Mitch could be offered a senior coaching job much sooner if he hasn't already. Assurances would need to be given, or we could hardly blame him for taking the first senior job he's offered given how rarely they pop up & how fiercely contested between strong candidates they are.*



*Unless you're Essendon*, then everything's decided behind closed doors and the interview process is just a sham for the media
This was my 1st thoughts too.

I always wanted Matthews to coach HFC
My mates Dad was friends with Matthews, I kept asking him when Matthews would come back.
He’d just look at me & shake his head, with the look of ‘it’s never gunna happen’
 
Aug 27, 2015
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I always wanted Matthews to coach HFC
Most of us did. Especially in the midst of our horror run with duds like Knights, Judge & Schwab, I dearly wanted Lethal to return to "save" Hawthorn and was bitterly disappointed when we couldn't somehow wrangle him back to the club after Brisbane's 3peat, instead taking a gamble on some guy named Clarkson.

I guess if there's a lesson its that should we miss out on Mitchell as our next coach it won't be the end of the world, an unheralded lower-profile choice could turn out even better. Coaches aren't like players where you can often predict the #1 pick will become an elite star with reasonable certainty.
 
Most of us did. Especially in the midst of our horror run with duds like Knights, Judge & Schwab, I dearly wanted Lethal to return to "save" Hawthorn and was bitterly disappointed when we couldn't somehow wrangle him back to the club after Brisbane's 3peat, instead taking a gamble on some guy named Clarkson.

I guess if there's a lesson its that should we miss out on Mitchell as our next coach it won't be the end of the world, an unheralded lower-profile choice could turn out even better. Coaches aren't like players where you can often predict the #1 pick will become an elite star with reasonable certainty.
After Schwab I’d realised Matthews was never coming.

I hoped that we didn’t go with Ayres

I prayed every waking hour that we didn’t go with Wallace

So when Clarko was appointed I was over the moon, even after someone asked me who Clarko was & I said “I don’t know, but he’s better than the other 2”
 
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