West Coast Eagles assistant coach Sam Mitchell says the club will seek to curb the influence, as opposed to the possession count, of Hawthorn’s Tom Mitchell this Sunday.
Mitchell is averaging 35.4 disposals this season which ranks him number one in the competition. But the Eagles won’t be too concerned about the total numbers – as long as he isn’t having a big impact on the contest.
“His numbers are just prolific, he is a difficult guy to stop,” Mitchell told SEN Mornings.
“He has had some games where he just completely dominates the game and he might only have 30.
“Then he has games where he has a fair bit more than that and he doesn’t seem to have the same influence.
“Our strategy will be to try and stop his influence on the game rather than his possession count.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to do but that will be our aim.”
Mark Hutchings and Elliot Yeo loom as two potential defensive midfield options to attempt to limit Mitchell’s dominance.
You can listen to the Eagles and Hawks clash live on 1116 SEN this Sunday from 12:00pm AEDT with Peter Donegan, Sandy Roberts, Danny Frawley and Adam Cooney.
Listen to Sam Mitchell’s chat with Kane Cornes on SEN Mornings in the player below