Sam Mitchell is not putting a timeline on when he would like to be an AFL coach, saying he would be open to conversations.
The Hawthorn champion has taken over as coach of the Box Hill Hawks in the VFL this season and says he is thoroughly enjoying the experience of coaching his own team.
“I won’t close any doors at this point for myself, but I’m really enjoying the learning curve of coaching my own team at the moment and the challenges of the week to week coaching Box Hill has been fantastic,” Mitchell told SEN’s Whateley.
“We’ve been really fortunate that our first two home games have been the first two games of the season and this week we get to go away and you’re managing a coaches box and then you’re managing your staff which won’t fit everyone, so someone goes to the bench and then your runner can’t turn up so you figure out what happens there.
“All these little things that I’m learning along the way, no matter what level you’re developing you’re never going to have all of the skills when you start so you need to be learning on the run.
“When that time comes I’ll be as open as I can to learning as quickly as strongly as I can.
“I’ve really enjoyed (coaching Box Hill). I get home on a Tuesday about 9:30 and still with a smile on my face and having enjoyed a long day of working with players.
“Your brain is still ticking over about how you can improve a player’s performance or our defensive system, ‘gee we’re not getting as much out of that guy, or in this moment we’re not scoring from these opportunities, I wonder what we can do’, so your brain never stops ticking over.
“I think when I was in my mid-20s, I started to get the feeling that coaching might be the direction. At no point since then has it really dawned on me to do something else.”
Mitchell adds that a conversation with Brisbane coach Chris Fagan helped him decide to take the role with Box Hill.
“I had a great conversation with Chris Fagan at the end of last year around coaching your own team and whether or not that would be necessary or a good idea and he was very strong on it, about how important it was and how much you learn through coaching your own team,” he said.
“By the same token, Adam Simpson didn’t do that and clearly both coaches are having strong performances over their first few years.
“It’s a little bit horses for courses and the opportunities that come up in front of you.”
Box Hill takes on Sandringham this Sunday at Trevor Barker Beach Oval.
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