Hawthorn Coach Sam Mitchell has spoken to the media ahead of his side's match-up with North Melbourne on Sunday. 

We've summarised some of his key points below.

On last week's loss:

"I think you learn a lot from bad losses, we've looked at everything - it wasn't one we swept away, we said 'that's not us, but how do we make sure that type of performance doesn't happen again?' We've learnt some things this week, hopefully we can put together a better performance on Sunday."

On training:

"We do some physical training every week. There has been some extra maybe competitiveness amongst that - we've had two six-day breaks in a row so potentially we might have over trained in that time. Going into this game confident in the work we've done is something we've prioritised over the physical freshness of the group. Intent and energy-wise, I couldn't question the group to be honest. The optimism and enthusiasm (hasn't changed) - while there are always slight ups and downs - the positivity and sense of belief in where we are going and what we can achieve on a weekly basis, that hasn't ever been questioned."

On Jack Gunston: 

"I'm really pleased with Jack, off the field he has been fantastic, regardless of how he's going on the field. His influence on the group has been fantastic. Last week against a really quality Gold Coast VFL side he played in defence, on the wing and up forward and looked really good. His body is going well. He'll play this week - I'm looking forward to having him set us up with a little bit more leadership. We just lacked a couple of wise heads last week to handle the pressure they bought and the consistency of it."

On facing North Melbourne:

"It's an interesting game - when two teams are both 0-5 there's level of expectation around 'that this is going to be a good game'. I think it will be a physical game and I'm looking forward to seeing our players respond in a way because they weren't too pleased with the way we performed last week."

Listen to the full press conference below.