Hawthorn Senior Coach Sam Mitchell discussed a range of topics at his press conference on Thursday ahead of Monday's clash with Geelong.

We've summarised some key points below, while his full press conference is available to watch here.

On the significance of Easter Monday:

"(On the Dare to Hope match) We've got Calsher Dear as part of the club now, and we obviously saw Paul Dear (former Premiership Hawk who passed away due to pancreatic cancer) in the years gone by as his health declined. Having the Dare to Hope match on Easter Monday is obviously special for the club. We've got Blake Hardwick with his 150th career game too, it's also Jarman Impey's 100th game for Hawthorn. When you group those things together, it's a pretty special week for us. On the other side of the fence, Geelong has Tom Hawkins playing his 350th game - so it's going to be a special day for both sides and we're looking forward to it."

On the Geelong rivalry:

"I was having a look at last year's Easter Monday game and it was even at half time. Then they really got hold of us after that. We haven't made the most of our chances against them. They are obviously at a different stage of their development to us and they've been so consistent for such a long period of time. I think for the Geelong verses Hawthorn games, it hasn't traditionally mattered where you are on the ladder it's always been a game where it's been fought hard. I think the rivalries is what makes sport so fantastic."

On last week's loss to Melbourne:

"I think as a coach you try and figure out ways to beat teams and I don't apologise for that we got it wrong on the weekend, we didn't give our players a chance. We didn't get the strategy right in the planning, but I don't agree it was a waste of development minutes. Playing a different style actually probably does develop you more quickly, but it's not something we want to do (all the time). We've played a really consistent brand, improving over the first two years. We've played the odd quarter or part of the game with a different game style to try and unpack the opposition. Some of that has worked and some of it hasn't. Every team in the comp makes tweaks to their game style."

On James Sicily:

"He'll be the first one to say that he'd like to be playing better, but I think it's not just him. I think a lot of our side are performing under what we consider to be their best. He had some good moments on the weekend, but he played on a really good player and I think consistently when you have James Sicily in your side, opposition are going to put work into him. I think a lot of our players have got some improvement to do in their form line that we need."

Watch Sam's full press conference below.