Sam Mitchell said he was pleased with his side’s approach and effort shown in its final game of the season, despite going down to the Western Bulldogs by 23 points at UTAS Stadium on Sunday.

“The Bulldogs are a very good side, their midfield dominance was obvious, we couldn’t win centre bounces,” Mitchell said post-game.  

“They took a lot of things off us and wore us down across the course of the day, but I couldn’t question our players effort.

“I thought we played in the right manner, we just weren’t quite polished enough and good enough for long enough today.”

With the home-and-away season now finished, Mitchell also reflected on his campaign as a first-year senior coach.

“Part of me thinks the last 12 months has only taken 12 minutes, but there is another part of me that makes it feel like it’s been 12 years,” Mitchell said.

“I’ve really enjoyed the role, I’ve worked for a long time to get to this point, I’ve loved even the bits that haven’t been fun.”

Mitchell took a moment at the beginning of his press conference to thank all the brown and gold members for their support throughout the course of the season.

“I’d like to thank them all for being on our journey, we’ve come a long way in 12 months, a lot of things have changed,” Mitchell said.

“But I feel as though there has been nothing but support from a huge contingent of people for the direction with where we are going as a football club.

“We’ve had some ups and downs but at no point have we wavered from the direction in which we're heading as a football club.

“To all of our fans out there, I just want to say thank you because although we won’t be playing finals football this year, I think all of you have recognised the direction that we’re on.

“I’ve felt nothing but love and support and so have our players throughout the course of the season.”

Listen to Mitchell’s full press conference below.