All of the talk surrounds whether Sam Mitchell will take over as Hawthorn coach once Alastair Clarkson’s contract comes up at the end of 2022, but does he even want the job so soon?
Premiership teammate Jordan Lewis feels Mitchell, who is currently the coach of Box Hill, will want more experience around the league before stepping into a main job – at Hawthorn or elsewhere.
“My gut feeling is that Sam Mitchell may not want the (Hawthorn) job (so soon),” Lewis told AFL Nation on Friday night.
“He’s quite young in his coaching career and he’s coaching his own side this year, so he ticks that box.
“I get the feeling he wants more exposure to different environments to round himself out.
“He went over to West Coast to experience that and came back to Hawthorn which I thought was a bizarre decision to be honest because I thought he would want exposure to other environments.
“Now he’s been able to sit under Alastair Clarkson in the coaches box and been able to see arguably the best coach who’s ever done it and how he does it.
“For me, I think he’ll try and get exposure to different environments before he actually puts his hand up.”
Mitchell has stated his desire to be a senior coach and when asked on SEN’s Whateley, did not put a timeline on when he would like a top job.
“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 in April.
Mitchell's Box Hill sit sixth on the VFL ladder after six games with a 4-2 record.