Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has made no apologies for his quarter-time spray to defender Jack Scrimshaw, instead doubling down on the way he handled the incident against the Swans.
Broadcast cameras picked up Mitchell delivering an almighty spray towards the 25-year-old defender after the former Sun attempted a kick inside the corridor that the Swans intercepted in the dying stages of the first term.
Mitchell revealed on Fox Footy’s AFL360 that Scrimshaw in fact “enjoys being coached like that”.
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“You have to pick your poison with your players, what’s going to help them, I look at Jack’s season, he’s enjoyed being coached like this,” Mitchell said.
“This is what the players have asked me to be like, you have to create an environment within the football club that handles robust discussion.”
Mitchell said he would not take back the way he handled the conversation with Scrimshaw.
“I wouldn’t take it back… he performed fantastically after that,” the four-time premiership Hawk said.
“This was a key moment, and we gave them another scoring opportunity at a time where we didn’t need to do that.
“His response and performance under difficult circumstances, not just this game but across the season, has been first rate.”
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The Hawthorn coach said he rang the 90-game defender after the game once he learned that it had been picked up by media outlets.
“Once I saw it got to media coverage after the game I rang him,” he said.
“We had a discussion after the game, and I think he appreciated me giving him a call.
“There’s an internal and an external communication line that you have to be careful of, when it becomes a public story it’s a different narrative to what we talk about within the four walls.”
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The Hawks have won just one match in their first seven games, but Mitchell says they’ve “definitely improved”.
“If you look at the outcomes, we’re further behind then where I would like us to be of course,” he said.
“But I look at the development of some of our players and some of the systems we have, and we’ve definitely improved.
“There’s definitely a level of frustration because you’re so impatient and you want success and for players to have that feeling.
“We have been in and out of games this year and the frustration is we can’t replicate our best often enough.
“We know that we’re on a journey and that journey comes with pushing all the time because it’s not going to be an easy one.”
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The Hawks had nine players with less than 50 games experience play against the Swans and Mitchell turned to that as a sign of progress.
“We’ve had some periods of this season that have worked exactly the way we would like and then we can’t hit the scoreboard,” Mitchell said.
“We know we’re a work in progress and we’re getting some games into players.
“We’re working on being a more mature team that can handle swings in momentum.
“Being able to handle those moments is exactly what we’re working towards… the good teams are doing it the whole game.”
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When asked if the poor start to the season has rattled Mitchell, he was adamant that
“Completely unshaken in the big picture, but it doesn’t make every small step in that journey just as difficult right now.
“We know that there’s some steps that will be a bit more enjoyable down the track and we need to get there as quickly as we can.”
The Hawks will look to win their second game of 2024 when they take on the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Source Agencies
