Hawthorn Coach Sam Mitchell has complemented his playing group for their continued belief in the team’s vision. 

Despite just coming off a disappointing 55-point loss against Port Adelaide, Mitchell said the group has remained upbeat throughout tough times during the season.

“Our spirit and mood in the locker room hasn’t waivered at any point,” he said.

“I think we lost six in a row or thereabouts in the middle part of the season but at no point as coaches or leaders of the group did we say, ‘How can we get the players up this week?’

“There’s always been this great energy and understanding of okay, we’re on a path that’s got some bumps on it.

“There’s enough guys who believe in where we’re going and what we’re doing and the bumps in the road.

“There hasn’t been an issue at any point this year.”

The Hawks face another tough challenge against fourth-placed Brisbane at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.

Mitchell said he hoped the team would be able to handle a potential swing in momentum a bit better than they did last week. 

“I guess there’s a couple of things you want to see from your playing group and that is, at some stage, every game, momentum goes against you,” he said.

“If we can handle it a bit better, the players can bring their own interventions into it.

“If you watched our highlights, even from the weekend, even from the first half, despite it being 100-20 at half-time, you’d say this team has got some good things in their game but consistently over an hour of footy in the first half, we just couldn’t do it often enough and couldn’t withstand their pressure often enough.

“Against Brisbane, you would want to see the consistency of playing the right way and then being able to get away with it more often and be able to play in a manner that really challenges them.” 

Hear more from Mitchell’s press conference below.