HAWTHORN star Sam Mitchell is no stranger to playing with a tag – and may need to get used to teams adopting a tighter approach when they come up against him in 2016.

Mitchell had a rare quiet night against Sydney Swans last week when he was held to just 15 disposals – his first tally under 25 since Round 4 last year.

The ball magnet was unable to shake namesake Tom Mitchell, who played a lock-down role which limited Mitchell’s ability to influence the contest.

“I have been tagged like that (this year), I’ve just played a bit better on those tags over the course of year,” Mitchell told 3AW on Tuesday night.

“He did a really good job and I was terrible. I’m not going to shy away from that.”

Mitchell, who is still averaging more than 30 disposals per game in 2016, said he would be keen to bounce back this week against Brisbane Lions.

“(Tom Mitchell) definitely got the chocolates on both counts – he beat me in the individual battle and they won the game, so that’s the worst case scenario for me. I need to make sure I’m playing my part in putting in a better performance than I did on Friday night,” he said.

The Hawks will enter Saturday’s clash with the Lions with a 6-3 record.

Despite not being at their best so far this year, the Hawks sit just one game outside the top four, with Mitchell confident the Hawks’ best is still good enough.

“We know that we haven’t played anywhere near our best footy,” he said.

“We’ve played a couple of good patches, and we still feel like our best is pretty good, but being able to get to that in a much more consistent basis is what we’re all about at the moment.”