Sam Mitchell says he will continue to balance development and performance as his side heads into the final month of the 2022 home-and-away season.  

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Mitchell said his priorities remain the same as it approaches the end of the year.

“At every stage you’re playing guys that you’re trying to get up to AFL standard, and other players that you know are at that level or above,” Mitchell said.

“We balance those things, and we’ll continue to do so, we don’t look at the next month any different from the last or the first month.

“We’re continuing to build our brand and work out exactly how we want to play and what works for our group and how we can win finals.

“It’s going to take some time before we can get to that point, but we’ll continue to learn and make progress towards that goal.”

The Hawks will finish off their season with three out of four games against top-eight hopefuls in St Kilda, Richmond, and the Western Bulldogs.

Mitchell said while the idea of producing some upset wins was an appealing prospect, it wasn’t the aim of his group.

“I’ve been in that situation before and it does give you a little bit of joy when you ruin someone else’s party,” Mitchell said.

“But we’re very much on our own journey, we’re very focussed on what we’re trying to achieve.”

Mitchell says his side will be searching for redemption when it faces St Kilda on Saturday following their disappointing loss to them earlier this year.

“We’ve had a bit of a look at that game, their last month and our last month and tried to figure out how to pull them apart,” Mitchell said.

“But it’s purely with the aim of making the most progress that we can in our own group.”

Watch Mitchell’s full presser below.