Re-appointed captain Ben McEvoy is the “obvious and best” candidate to lead Hawthorn in 2022, says Coach Sam Mitchell.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Mitchell said McEvoy was the strongest leader that the club currently has.

McEvoy to skipper the Hawks in 2022

“Certainly, from a players, coaches and, I think, a fans' perspective, he’s our clear leader and we were very proud to announce him as captain for 2022,” Mitchell said.

“He’s very popular among the boys, and he certainly drives our standards and is pushing us more quickly in the direction that we’d like to go.”

Mitchell said one of his key focuses after taking over as coach was to flatten the leadership structure and encourage more players to make their voices heard.

“What I said to a lot of the players who have had leadership opportunities or positions in the last few years was that I just wanted to open it up at the start and see what happens,” he said.

“What that has allowed is for a lot of players to really stand up and have their voices heard and have a significant positive impact on the group.

“When we have meetings now and you ask a question, instead of it being three or four guys, we have 15, 16, 20 players who are more than willing to get involved and be a part of it.”

Mitchell said pre-season has been progressing nicely with match simulation now being introduced to training.

“We’d like to play an exciting brand of footy, we’d like to be consistently a tough and hard side, we’d like to be physical,” he said.

“The physical aspect of the game is something that I think Hawks fans will come to rely on this group.

“We’re really trying to find out own identity, as a club we’ve had some parts of our game be really strong, other parts need some work, we’re trying to improve.

“But we’ve had a really strong group of coaches come in, a lot of new ideas, new ways to play the game.

“We think it will be an exciting, tough brand of footy and we’re looking forward to seeing how it stands up.”

After taking over as captain in 2021, McEvoy said he was honoured to be nominated for another year.

“I really feel the support from these bunch of guys,” he said.

“From the start I said that I had no ego attached to this position. I’m really big on whoever is best for the job doing it, but I certainly feel comfortable that I’m in a really good space to lead these boys this year.”

He said the change that Mitchell has brought in with him since taking over as coach has been “overwhelmingly positive”.

“Especially for the older guys like me – I’m the oldest guy on the list now – but certainly for the other 30-plus year old's it has been so invigorating to have a fresh set of eyes,” McEvoy said.

“We’ve got some other new coaches in here as well who are really challenging us which is great.

“I think everyone is enjoying the exciting change.”