Sam Mitchell says he is looking forward to the challenge of playing at an unfamiliar venue this weekend.

Hawthorn will take on North Melbourne this Saturday in Hobart in what will be the club’s first ever game at Blundstone Arena.

The venue will mark the 34th ground at which Hawthorn has played a VFL-AFL game, and just the second time it has played in Hobart. 

“We’re looking forward to it, we haven’t had a team that has played down in Hobart,” Mitchell said.

“We’ve spent a lot of time down in Tassie, but this is a different ground, a different venue and we're looking forward to the new experience.”

Mitchell said Jack Gunston, who has been missing in action the past fortnight due to personal reasons, is expected to make a return.

“He hasn’t done a lot physically over the last couple of week’s obviously,” Mitchell said. 

“But he’s very open minded about it (returning) so I’ll talk to him after training today and if he thinks he’s ready to go, then he’ll come back into the side.”

Hear more from Mitchell’s press conference below.