David King is concerned Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has “committed professional suicide” by going down the deep rebuild path.
The Hawks have lost eight of their most experienced players from 2022, trading out Tom Mitchell, Jack Gunston and Jaeger O’Meara, losing Ben McEvoy and Liam Shiels to retirement and delisting Tom Phillips, Kyle Hartigan and Daniel Howe.
This leaves Luke Breust as the only player over 30, with Chad Wingard, Sam Frost, James Sicily, Jarman Impey and Karl Amon the next oldest players.
They have publicly committed to the rebuild, wanting to build a list that can contend for premierships rather than sneaking into finals.
King is worried for Mitchell due to how often we see the first coach of a rebuilding team sacked early in the process.
“I know Sam has made some comments about not wanting to limp into finals and wanting to get this great club back to the top where it needs to be,” King told SEN Breakast.
“I fear that Sam Mitchell, another rebuild coach, has committed professional suicide in terms of what they’ve done with the purge of experienced players from their list over the last couple of weeks.
“When you look at what that leaves them with, I think there’s only a handful of players on their list over 27. They’re going to be drastically inexperienced week on week.
“I always worry about the rebuild coaches. You look at the list additions they’re going to have at the draft and they’ve got pick six and 24, it’s not like they’ve gathered three first round picks.
“I’m concerned that … we’ve seen rebuild coaches fail. David Noble and the situation he was in initially at the Kangaroos, but there’s 100 names I could mention. Justin Leppitsch, Brendan McCartney, Brendon Bolton, David Teague, Scott Watters, Alan Richardson – you can go through a heap of rebuild-type coaches who have had more experienced lists than what Sam is going to have for the next two to three years.
“I’m not trying to be negative on Sam or on Hawthorn’s plot. I follow the Kangaroos. I’ve never seen as much turmoil. It’s just the situation.”
King went through recent coaches who have helmed rebuilds only to be cast aside.
“I’ll give you the facts. Mark Neeld was 1-10 on the back of 4-18, gone. Ben Rutten 6-15 – gone. Second year is the one that gets you. McCartney went five wins, eight wins, seven wins – gone,” he said.
“Leppitsch went seven wins, four wins, three wins – gone. Teague went six, seven, eight – gone. Bolton went six, seven, two and then was 1-10 – gone.
“Guy McKenna was in a different situation, Scott Watters had 12 wins then went 5-17 and was gone.
“As soon as we see the fall or the slide and you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, that’s where the challenge comes. I just fear that Sam has challenged the system and from the Kangaroos, we’ve seen this is not the answer.
“Is finals seriously on the agenda when you’re cutting back so far? I just can’t believe he’s done this at the end of his first year of coaching.
“We love Sam Mitchell. We talked to him every other week on this show and that’s why I want him to be a coach for 20 years. That’s why I don’t want this to be an issue for him in 18 months time.”