Hawthorn football boss Rob McCartney has revealed how the club plans to prop up Sam Mitchell in his first year as senior coach.
The Hawks had a poor year to finish 14th, however it was somewhat salvaged by three wins and a draw to end the season to farewell master coach Alastair Clarkson.
A failed coaching succession plan saw Clarkson exit the club, forcing Mitchell to take the reins a year earlier than initially planned.
However, McCartney remains confident Mitchell can improve the club’s performances, especially considering the support around him.
“We’ve been doing some significant planning with our new coaching team, and I think that was probably the first piece, putting a strong group of coaches who have a point of difference, (they) complement (each other) but not the same as each other,” he told Sportsday.
“So we’ve been really, really strategic in our selection of people around Sam.
“Chris Newman remains as an assistant coach, (but) the ability to add Adrian Hickmott, Robert Harvey and David Hale to that assistant coaches team has been pretty significant.”
McCartney also spoke highly of an appointment that has gone “under the radar”.
Andy Collins worked with Mitchell at Box Hill last year and is now the head of development at the Hawks for 2022.
“I think the other appointment that might fly under the radar a little bit is the more wiser, elderly head in Andy Collins, and Andy spending a year with Sam in the Box Hill program, playing a bit of a mentorship with him, I think that’s been significantly important,” he said.
“If I say one area in particular, we’ve been really strategic around the coaching team we’ve put around Sam.”
Mitchell’s tenure will begin with a relatively young and inexperienced list, and the Hawks are set to add more youngsters through the draft.
While McCartney agrees the Hawks are strongest defensively, he doesn’t necessarily subscribe to the idea of drafting players to fill the holes on the club’s list.
They have picks 5, 21, 24, 59, 65 and 81 in the National Draft.
“If there’s one area of the ground that we are pretty solid in it’s our defensive end, (but) I think always in that first and earliest pick it’s the best player available more than likely,” he said.
“Picks 21 and 24 that we have, that’s probably then coming down to adding to our midfield and forward group.
“But who knows what’s still available at pick five … we think we’ll pick up a pretty good player.”
First to fourth-year players at Hawthorn will return to training on November 22, while all other senior players will return on December 6.