Sam Mitchell believes the talk about his relationship with Alastair Clarkson being damaged is “overblown”.
Speaking on SEN Breakfast earlier in the week, Tim Watson said he believes things were “very personal” between the two of them, heading into North Melbourne’s clash with Hawthorn this weekend.
Mitchell, however, has poured cold water on those suggestions, but admits it will be a weird experience.
“I’m not sure it’s significant, but it is certainly odd knowing the opposition coach so well,” the Hawthorn coach told SEN Breakfast.
“You always know the opposition coaches in some way whether you played against them or with them or coached with them at different stages across your career with just about all of them.
“Obviously when I’m coaching against someone who coached me for 15-odd years it does have a bit of an odd feeling to it.
“I think both of us, while being very competitive, we control big football teams and we have plenty of things on our plate that it’s not a personal battle between the two of us.
“At the end of the day he coached me for a long time, we won four premierships together so we spent a lot of time together and I think it’s been completely blown out of proportion the relationship side of things.
“We’ll coach against each other and see who comes out on top and continue to do so for quite a bit of time ahead. Looking forward to the first of many.”
The Hawks are deep into a rebuild, with wins potentially few and far between in 2023 and possibly beyond.
Clubs who have been in similar positions in recent years such as Gold Coast, North Melbourne and Carlton have asked the AFL for priority pick considerations.
But Mitchell says the Hawks will not be going down that path.
“I shouldn’t say this, but I don’t think we’re going to be asking the AFL for a priority pick,” he said.
“In 2021 it got to the end of the year and there were a few of us in list management committee and were discussing how we were going to get this team back to a premiership and the path we’ve taken is the path we’re on.
“That’s the one we’ve decided to go on and we knew there would be some bumps in the road and we’ve hit a couple, but we knew there would be some good days as well.
“We’re in the middle of that now and we’ll continue to check that the plan is executed well and continue on the journey that we planned for.”
Hawthorn and North Melbourne will clash at UTAS Stadium on Saturday afternoon in what looms as a huge opportunity for the Hawks to get four points.