Coach Sam Mitchell's direction for the club and 2024 news

[Strapping Young Lad]

If anyone wants to have a listen about what the data is saying in regards to whether we have actually gotten worse this year have a listen to this from the 9:15 mark.

I know a few people have already touched on it, but the data is also showing that our results this year have been slightly better despite actually putting out a younger team and dealing with some injuries.




And here.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

Even magic johnson in the 80s dribbled like a robot compared with current players. The rule changes have had a massive inpact! I think professionalism is the bigger issue in afl. The game got faster than umpires could adjudicate.

Back in the 1980s they still called travel and carry in the NBA unlike today where players treat those rules with disdain.

NBA is a joke these days with their rule interpretations, FIBA basketball is a much purer form of the game IMHO.

 

[Roddy]

I feel like we're in the best imaginable hands. I've had this stigma/voice at the back of my head whispering that the successful coaches we've had since Parkin have all been non-Hawthorn greats and the unsuccessful ones have all been former Hawk greats...
Jeans - non-Hawk great, massive success.
Joyce - played for Hawthorn but not exactly what you'd call a 'great'. Played under 50 games if memory serves me correctly. massive success.
Knights - Hawk great, failure as a coach.
Judge - Hawk great, failure as a coach (with all due respect to the sadly deceased)
Schwab - Hawk great, failure as a coach
Clarko - non-Hawk great, massive success.
(and by 'failure' here, I mean by Hawthorn standards)
But, I feel Sammy is poised to smash this trend.....

 

[moginie]

I feel like we're in the best imaginable hands. I've had this stigma/voice at the back of my head whispering that the successful coaches we've had since Parkin have all been non-Hawthorn greats and the unsuccessful ones have all been former Hawk greats...
Jeans - non-Hawk great, massive success.
Joyce - played for Hawthorn but not exactly what you'd call a 'great'. Played under 50 games if memory serves me correctly. massive success.
Knights - Hawk great, failure as a coach.
Judge - Hawk great, failure as a coach (with all due respect to the sadly deceased)
Schwab - Hawk great, failure as a coach
Clarko - non-Hawk great, massive success.
(and by 'failure' here, I mean by Hawthorn standards)
But, I feel Sammy is poised to smash this trend.....

As Sam has said repeatedly; we're not looking backwards, only to the future.

 

[peetoo]

I feel like we're in the best imaginable hands. I've had this stigma/voice at the back of my head whispering that the successful coaches we've had since Parkin have all been non-Hawthorn greats and the unsuccessful ones have all been former Hawk greats...
Jeans - non-Hawk great, massive success.
Joyce - played for Hawthorn but not exactly what you'd call a 'great'. Played under 50 games if memory serves me correctly. massive success.
Knights - Hawk great, failure as a coach.
Judge - Hawk great, failure as a coach (with all due respect to the sadly deceased)
Schwab - Hawk great, failure as a coach
Clarko - non-Hawk great, massive success.
(and by 'failure' here, I mean by Hawthorn standards)
But, I feel Sammy is poised to smash this trend.....

Knights Judge Schwab had bugger all resources. One made a prelim.

 

[Roddy]

Knights Judge Schwab had bugger all resources. One made a prelim.

I repeat, I'm talking about Hawthorn standards.

And yes, I'm aware there were reasons for a lack of premiership success, as there always is.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

 

[Hawkers Hero]

I know it was a formality after the season that's been but how good to have Sam on board for another 3!

Hope it is just the start and many more extensions come in the future

 

[Buttonsticher]

Only 3 years? Was hoping for more flags than that

 

[moginie]

For those who haven't seen it or didn't watch it live. Once again excellent and inspiring.

www.hawthornfc.com.au/video/1673288/pcm-2024-sam-mitchell-address?videoId=1673288&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1728124653001

 

[Mississippi]

I hope everyone listens to the whole of Sam’s address.

I’ve heard the likes of John Kennedy and Alan Jeans give similar addresses to members over the years, but I’ve never heard such a personal and intimate address from a coach like Sam’s last night.
If there’s still doubt as to the main reason for our dramatic climb up the ladder this year, you heard the reason why last night.

Sam’s address demonstrated the enormous bond he has with his players (and all the admin staff) and it was so apparent that everyone at the club, especially the players, have absolutely bought into his plan. But in saying all of that, I’ve never heard a coach speak in such a heartfelt and sincere and personal manner.

Sam showed last night why the likes of Battle and Barrass have committed to the club after listening to his vision for a few minutes.

 

[matey]

For those who haven't seen it or didn't watch it live. Once again excellent and inspiring.

www.hawthornfc.com.au/video/1673288/pcm-2024-sam-mitchell-address?videoId=1673288&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1728124653001

When I first saw my son today he says, “hey dad did you see Sam’s speech”? Just watched it. That was brilliant and advise every Hawk fan to do the same. Absolutely pumped for next year but it’s only October! Thank you son …… I taught you well

 

[Dipper]

For those who haven't seen it or didn't watch it live. Once again excellent and inspiring.

www.hawthornfc.com.au/video/1673288/pcm-2024-sam-mitchell-address?videoId=1673288&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1728124653001

Thanks for posting that link, I went down to my local pub here in London and went into the beer garden, and it's a bit chilly, but I just watched it on my own having a couple of pints.

As much as he's talking to the fans and members he's really talking to the players, it's a genius level speech.

I've sometimes thought about the sustained success of the club, is it a divine right that Hawthorn keeps winning flags throughout different eras, or is it complete coincidence, cos it's not the same people involved from the 80s to the 3 peat for example, and I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

I saw Jordan Lewis on 360 very late in the year and he said something that didn't really get picked up on by the rest of them, they were talking about winning flags and he said, and I paraphrase, I just wanted to be able to hold my head up when I spoke to the likes of Dipper, Dermie and Gary Ayres when they're around the club and you can only do that if you've had some success. And I think that is what sustains it, these past players want the current crop to do well, there's no jealousy and having people that have won multiple flags makes you think it's possible, when you've got Sam as head coach but also Hale there, and then from a different era Andy Collins, if you're a player you must think just trust this lot, they know what it takes, then if Dipper swings by or you chat to Roughead it must just normalise it, like it's not for other blokes, it's for us, work hard and we can replicate the fellows before and as much as we mock them, maybe that's the other side of the coin that perpetuates St Kilda not winning flags, even when they have genuinely good teams, there's not that inbuilt belief in the fabric of the organisation.

I think we'll win the flag next year.

 

[Roddy]

For those who haven't seen it or didn't watch it live. Once again excellent and inspiring.

www.hawthornfc.com.au/video/1673288/pcm-2024-sam-mitchell-address?videoId=1673288&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1728124653001

Inspirational.

You know, we bitch and whine and bicker and argue about all sorts of stuff on here, but there is one thing we all agree on. Two things actually: our undying love of this mighty club and our belief in the bloke we have at the helm right now.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Earlier in the year I would give an outline of how we were tracking stats-wise, when the scoreboard wasn’t exactly going our way(some people really rallied against this, choosing to believe that the scoreboard is the only thing that matters, but the proof was in the pudding).


Here’s an outline of how we finished off the year.

In the last 5 games of 2024, Hawthorn were :

2nd in the Comp for Inside 50’s
1st for rebound 50’s per opposition inside 50.
4th for contested possessions
2nd for uncontested possessions
2nd for intercept possessions
2nd for goals per inside 50
3rd for scoring shot per inside 50
2nd for metres gained

And importantly only 10th for experience and 13th for age.

When you look at what we allowed the opposition to do, the differentials tell a very big story of how we dominated teams late in the year.
Hawthorn were 1st in the comp for contested possession differential over the last 5 games.

1st for uncontested possession diff.
1st for ground ball gets diff
2nd for inside 50’s diff
1st for centre clearance diff
1st for marks inside 50 diff
1st for intercept marks diff
2nd for marks on lead diff
1st for score from kick in diff
2nd for score from stoppage diff
1st for scores from turn over diff
1st for scores from defensive half diff
1st for scores from forward half diff
1st for scores from centre bounce diff

What stands out to me is that for such a young group to be this dominant, even against some poor sides, there is still so much growth to come from within the group.

 

[TylerDurden]

Earlier in the year I would give an outline of how we were tracking stats-wise, when the scoreboard wasn’t exactly going our way(some people really rallied against this, choosing to believe that the scoreboard is the only thing that matters, but the proof was in the pudding).


Here’s an outline of how we finished off the year.

In the last 5 games of 2024, Hawthorn were :

2nd in the Comp for Inside 50’s
1st for rebound 50’s per opposition inside 50.
4th for contested possessions
2nd for uncontested possessions
2nd for intercept possessions
2nd for goals per inside 50
3rd for scoring shot per inside 50
2nd for metres gained

And importantly only 10th for experience and 13th for age.

When you look at what we allowed the opposition to do, the differentials tell a very big story of how we dominated teams late in the year.
Hawthorn were 1st in the comp for contested possession differential over the last 5 games.

1st for uncontested possession diff.
1st for ground ball gets diff
2nd for inside 50’s diff
1st for centre clearance diff
1st for marks inside 50 diff
1st for intercept marks diff
2nd for marks on lead diff
1st for score from kick in diff
2nd for score from stoppage diff
1st for scores from turn over diff
1st for scores from defensive half diff
1st for scores from forward half diff
1st for scores from centre bounce diff

What stands out to me is that for such a young group to be this dominant, even against some poor sides, there is still so much growth to come from within the group.

The defensive stats will also be right up there with the 2 new additions.

 

[Hodgey 15]

Earlier in the year I would give an outline of how we were tracking stats-wise, when the scoreboard wasn’t exactly going our way(some people really rallied against this, choosing to believe that the scoreboard is the only thing that matters, but the proof was in the pudding).


Here’s an outline of how we finished off the year.

In the last 5 games of 2024, Hawthorn were :

2nd in the Comp for Inside 50’s
1st for rebound 50’s per opposition inside 50.
4th for contested possessions
2nd for uncontested possessions
2nd for intercept possessions
2nd for goals per inside 50
3rd for scoring shot per inside 50
2nd for metres gained

And importantly only 10th for experience and 13th for age.

When you look at what we allowed the opposition to do, the differentials tell a very big story of how we dominated teams late in the year.
Hawthorn were 1st in the comp for contested possession differential over the last 5 games.

1st for uncontested possession diff.
1st for ground ball gets diff
2nd for inside 50’s diff
1st for centre clearance diff
1st for marks inside 50 diff
1st for intercept marks diff
2nd for marks on lead diff
1st for score from kick in diff
2nd for score from stoppage diff
1st for scores from turn over diff
1st for scores from defensive half diff
1st for scores from forward half diff
1st for scores from centre bounce diff

What stands out to me is that for such a young group to be this dominant, even against some poor sides, there is still so much growth to come from within the group.

That's some very impressive stats there.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

That's some very impressive stats there.

We did beat up on Carlton, Tigers and Roos within those 5 games, but if I was to have gone looking for the “last 5 games stats” at Round 20 it would have been quite similar as we’d generally got the better of our opponents for a long stretch in the back half of the season.

 

[peetoo]

I reckon we controlled large parts of games even agains the top sides. Season is so even too. It’s time to strike