Hawthorn Coach Sam Mitchell says former premiership teammate Lance Franklin has made a lasting impact, both on and off the field, throughout his 18-year career.

Franklin announced his retirement earlier this week after 354 games across Hawthorn and Sydney. 

Taken by the Hawks with Pick 5 in the 2004 national draft, the champion forward booted 580 of his 1,066 career goals during his time with the club.

Reflecting on Franklin's contribution to the brown and gold, Mitchell said he felt honoured to have played alongside such a great of the game. 

"I feel really privileged to have seen the part of his journey that I did," Mitchell said. 

"I think a lot of us would remember when he first turned up as this skinny kid, an amazing athlete, he didn't have a worry in the world and could do some fantastic things with the footy.

"We saw him go from that into the great man, father and icon of the game that he has become.

"Seeing how he grew into that and watch him do at at two clubs is admirable, I don't think you can also understand the amount of pressure he has been under for such a long time. 

"Not just on the field but in every aspect of his life, everyone is watching everything he does, for almost two decades.

"I have enormous respect for him, he's a player of our generation if not more, on top of that I just can't help but to tip my lid to what he has been able to achieve off the field and they way in how he's grown into being a great man."

Hawthorn is set to take on Collingwood for its Retro Round match this Saturday at the MCG at 4.35pm. 

Mitchell said youngster Finn Maginness would likely continue his tagging role, this time matched against Pies star Nick Daicos. 

"He'll go to Daicos and see if he can quell him. Daicos has had such a fantastic season, he is a genuine match-winner as he involved in so much of their play," Mitchell added. 

"That means it's going to free up something else for them and we're going to have to find a way to make it work.

"But they've got so any talented players that it's not to say he'll go on to him the whole game."

Mitchell said he has enjoyed being able to wind back the clock this week in anticipation for the weekend's game. 

"We're celebrating a lot of those players from that late 90s phase, Nick Holland, Ben Dixon and Daniel Harford, they're desperately loving it," Mitchell said. 

"We're always trying to give something back to the fans who put on the show for us - we had over 10,000 votes on which jumper to wear which is the Big Hawk.

"We wore it back in that late 90s era, I was in my teenage years at the time, it's nice to bring it back."

Hear more from Mitchell ahead of our Round 21 clash below.