Hawthorn Senior Coach Sam Mitchell spoke to the media following his side’s 27-point win over the Adelaide Crows on Saturday afternoon at the MCG.
Mitchell discussed wanting to be competitive against every side, the milestone man in Gunston and the young forward line.
Take a look at the key points from Mitchell’s post-match press conference below.
ON THE WIN
“I was really pleased that we kept the foot down for the majority of the game. I think we’re showing more and more maturity as a group and the players have a great understanding of what our best looks like and how we can produce it.
“We’re doing that more and more often and it’s taken some time to get to this point but we’re finally at a point now where we should be competitive against every side.
“We talked pre-season about how we’d like to put ourselves in winnable positions more often and we’ve been able to do that over the last five games, winning four. But the best teams are competitive and in winnable positions for 20 games in a row not five, so we know we’ve got some work to do still, but certainly a little bit of extra evidence today that our best will hold up.”
GUNSTON'S IMPACT
“I think Jack’s (Gunston) is a great story and a bit of a fairytale for him today. Regardless of the goals that he kicks, I’ve been so consistent in saying his biggest value is what he’s doing off the field, he’s like an extra assistant coach for us, he’s helped with that forward line chemistry, he’s continuing to help us build that.
“If you look at the forward line today, Dylan Moore he kicks five and has 20-odd, Jack Ginnivan had five or six shots on goal and has over 20. That’s all off the back of the learning they’re getting from Jack Gunston, Luke Breust, Adrian Hickmott these guys who continue to work on their craft.
“Him kicking that last goal, there was something poetic about it. I think we love the theatre of the game and Jack Gunston kicking the last goal of the game in his 250th after the story that he’s had, his family here and the 2014 reunion being on, I think there was something special about it that we as a football club should be proud of.”
DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG FORWARDS
“I think the banter that those guys have, in a fun way they’re having great fun and playing great footy as young guys in their early twenties, but by the same token they’ve started to hold each other to a higher account.
“If you look at us as a group I think they’re a good snapshot. They started off in their careers having fun and perhaps not doing everything they should be doing. And now when they go outside what they know is best for the team, they pull each other up and so the coaches don’t need to get involved and they’re basically running themselves.
“I thought the maturity that younger forward group showed today, Ginni, Moorey, Connor Macdonald, Calsher Dear, I thought the maturity that they showed today after a bit of a rough second quarter, I thought that was a big part of the win and that goal right on three-quarter time was vital to it and Daysy (Will Day) recognised that moment and was sure to pass it on.”
Listen to the full press conference with Mitchell below.
