A warp-speed rise in 2024 has catapulted Hawthorn into being one of the premiership favourites for this season, but Hawks coach Sam Mitchell said the huge expectations wouldn't change his team's approach.  

And that includes discussing premierships, with Mitchell saying the topic was not "taboo" at the club as it aimed for its first flag since 2015. 

Mitchell's Hawks were one of the stories of 2024, overcoming a 0-5 start to the season to win 14 of their next 19 games to burst into the finals series and claim their first September scalp since 2015 with an elimination final win over the Western Bulldogs.

They were knocked out of the finals series the following week against Port Adelaide, but loaded up with recruits Tom Barrass and Josh Battle on top of their youth-driven group. It has led them rocketing into being one of the widespread tips for the premiership, with Hawthorn sitting second in favouritism behind reigning premier Brisbane.

But Mitchell, who heads into his fourth season as coach, said the extra pressure came with the territory.

"We never shy away from that. There's going to be less pressure on us right now than there is in the games we hope we play, so we embrace the pressure and making sure we can handle all sorts of pressure. The last Saturday in September is the type of pressure we would like to be able to withstand. Anything at this time of year is nothing compared to that," Mitchell told AFL.com.au.

"It's an interesting one because if we listened to external expectations a couple of years ago there was a lot of talk about how everyone disagreed with the plan and they weren't sure on the path we were going and we weren't meant to win very much. We didn't listen to that and were very, very true to our strategic plan. 

"Now, if we started listening to what other people said that would be quite hypocritical from our own stance. We stick to our strategy, we know what we're trying to achieve, we know the stepping stones in place and we will very much stick to our internal timeline and expectations, rather than getting drawn into the outside."

After finishing sixth last season following their desperate semi-final loss, the Hawks have set their ambitions higher. Mitchell said he would be "naïve" to think his players weren't aware of the higher external expectations on the Hawks, which is a significant shift from his previous three pre-seasons as head coach.

But he said it wasn't unusual for the club to aim high. Asked if premierships were part of his club's language as it strives to take the next step, Mitchell said the Hawks were open in setting their goals. 

"It's certainly not taboo. This club is quite clear in its expectations and its goal is to win premierships. Some clubs are about consistent finals and that gives you the chance to win premierships and every club is a little bit different in the way they go about their goal setting," he said. 

"For our players, they all know and would talk about trying to win a premiership. That's the plan. And trying to give yourself chances to win premierships is what we're all here for and I think everyone would say that. 

"Do we talk regularly and say 'To win a premiership we need to…'? If that was the right time to say at the right time, then we certainly would say it. But it's not something we would talk about that often. It's very much one foot in front of the other with making progressions to make sure we can compete. 

"Where we are right now in our position, we know we can get better. We know what finals are like so we want more of that. But we know what we're doing right now isn't quite good enough so we need to evolve our game and make sure we're progressing and making sure we're making better game styles, better decisions and more consistency in the way we go about it. If we do that, we're competing against the best teams when it really matters. If we get those stepping stones right, premierships are at the end of that."

Hawthorn starts its season in Opening Round against Sydney at the SCG, with the Hawks up against last year's grand finalists in an early test of their credentials. 

"We're not trying to replicate anything from last year. We're really trying to build and grow and make sure that's the starting point for this season," Mitchell said.