Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell says he is looking forward to regaining defender Jack Scrimshaw into his side ahead of Saturday’s clash with North Melbourne.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Mitchell revealed that the 24-year-old would return to the senior side for the first time this season.
“Jack has been dealing with a couple of things, but he’ll be coming back into the side,” Mitchell said.
“He has been a bit limited in his preparation, he had a bit of a sore quad and a lot of the other guys have performed really well throughout the pre-season and have been a bit more consistent than him in his training.
“He spent a night in hospital last week, so he was only on limited minutes again on the weekend (in the VFL).
“He’s in our best side and he’s a fantastic player for us, he's just had a bit of a limited preparation which meant we got opportunities for other guys.
“But he’s a good player and we’re going to get him back in now that he’s had a little bit more footy under his belt.”
Mitchell also revealed that at least another two changes are set to be made to his side that fell to Sydney last week, with Chad Wingard and Harry Morrison set to return.
“There were a lot of aspects in that game (against Sydney), particularly as the game went on that were not something we would expect and not to the standard we would expect for ourselves,” Mitchell said.
“But if you focus solely on that, there’s a chance that you don’t feel capable of playing better.
“We showed some stuff that we did really well and where we could’ve had some opportunities to be a bit better.”
Mitchell said despite having yet to register a win so far this season, his young group remained optimistic moving forward.
“The players have been really good – they’re energetic and up and about,” Mitchell said.
“I think building resilience in young men is really important – having resilience, persistence, and then optimism – you have to have those three things.
“When I look at the persistence of this group there’s no question that they’re going to keep backing up, keep an optimistic outlook and keep thinking that we’re going to play to our capability which is what we should be doing.”
Hawthorn will host North Melbourne this Saturday at UTAS Stadium, marking the first time Mitchell has faced the Kangaroos under former Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson.
“I’d be lying if I said I haven’t thought about it at all, watching the opposition and seeing what they do and see why they’re doing it,” Mitchell said.
“You’re scouting it the same as every other game, you just potentially have a little bit more idea about the mind of the coach.
“I think they’re really organised, and you would expect that under Clarko – you know what they’re going to do, and they know what each other are going to do.”
Listen to Mitchell’s full press conference below.
