Melbourne are one of the best sides in the competition at winning the clearances, something the Hawks will need to counter to get the four points.
Contributing to that is the strength is ruckman Mark Jamar’s ability to give his midfielder’s first use of the football.
“We always look at the opposition ruckman, and Jamar is a little bit different because he’s a left-hander so that’s something that we need to take into account,” Mitchell said.
“They’re very efficient when they do get clearances at scoring from those, so we need to be careful.”
Mitchell says though that he has confidence in his teammates David Hale and Jarryd Roughead to compete well at the ruck contests.
“David Hale did a great job on the weekend, it was the first game of the year that he’s played the majority of the game in the ruck,” he said.
The Demons are one of the youngest sides in the competition, but the Hawks have great respect for the way new coach Mark Neeld is preparing his side.
“They’ve got a lot of young guys, guys like (James) Magner and (Jack) Trengove and these guys,” Mitchell said.
“They’re younger guys but they’re playing some solid footy so we’ve got a lot of respect for the way they go about their footy.
“They’re a good, honest, hard-working team and they tackle well and put a lot of pressure on the opposition and we want to be able to play four quarters.”
The Demons are one of the best rebounders from defence in the AFL, averaging 40 per game.
Co-Captain Jack Grimes is arguably their best defensive rebounder, averaging 19 disposals and four rebound 50s per game.
Mitchell says that Melbourne’s ability to quickly turn defence into attack is one of their main strengths.
“Guys like (James) Frawley and (Colin) Garland and these guys who play in the back half are very efficient,” he said.
“They do a good defensive job but then they’re able to rebound.
“We’ve got to try and lock the ball in our front half as much as we can, and just put them under enough pressure that we get some scores.”
The Hawks aim to improve each week, and Mitchell says that improvement will come from his side’s ability to tackle and win the contested ball, something he hopes will take a step forward on Friday night.
“Defensive pressure and contested possession are often what we really want to do well and when we play our best footy we tackle well and put a lot of pressure on the opposition when they’ve got it,” he said.
“There’s a lot of variables, but at the end of the day, contested possession, tackling and being able to hit the scoreboard are the most important things.”
Kate Salemme is a member of Hawthorn Football Club’s Digital media team reporting exclusively for hawthornfc.com.au from the Ricoh Centre.
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