HAWTHORN captain Sam Mitchell says his side will adapt to the crackdown on rushed behinds.

A new rule being trialled in the NAB Cup will see a free-kick paid for any rushed behinds. The rule was brought in after last year’s grand final where the Hawks rushed 11 behinds for the game.

Mitchell says the tactic was not a pre-conceived idea and that the Hawks will be able to adapt.

“It wasn’t a game plan. It was a bit of safety when you go back,” Mitchell said.

“Thankfully most of our defenders are pretty good kicks and hopefully we can find ourselves getting out of trouble. Every club’s got to adapt and we’re no different.”

The Hawks were widely praised for their use of last year’s rolling zone, but Mitchell says the team has to find new ideas if it is to defend the premiership.

“You need to innovate and continue to get better. If you try and do what you’ve always done you get overtaken fairly quickly,” he said.

“We have to keep trying to work to get better. We’ll keep stealing ideas from other clubs and figure out things they do well and maybe we can do them a little bit better. It’s part of what AFL footy is, it’s all about intelligence these days.”

Many of his premiership teammates have gone under the knife over summer but Mitchell says there will still be a competitive outfit for the club’s first NAB Cup game against Melbourne.

“Hodgey (Luke Hodge) might be a little bit slow for the NAB Cup. Croady (Trent Croad) won’t be up and going. Not sure about Robbie Campbell, he’s a bit 50-50,” he said.

“We’ll still field a pretty competitive side. We’ll give some opportunities to our young blokes with an extended bench.”

The Hawks skipper said star forward Lance Franklin would be right for round one despite having a limited pre-season due to shoulder surgery.

“He won’t miss the start of the season. If you come and watch us train you’d see he’s moving pretty well. I don’t think they’ve ruled him out.”