Sam Mitchell has shed further light on Hawthorn’s list strategy in comments that have drawn the praise of Kane Cornes.
Speaking to AFL Media earlier this week, Mitchell said his club had created a point of difference by rebuilding when no other club was. It comes after the Hawks shedded significant experience across Mitchell’s first two trade periods in charge and now possess the youngest list with the least experience per player in the competition.
The Hawthorn coach had previously spoken about wanting to build long-term success, but Mitchell’s new comments reveal fresh insight into his plans.
“I think if there are a whole group of clubs doing the same thing, it's probably less likely to work. So if you think about the clubs that have rebuilt well, they were the only clubs doing it at the time,” Michell said.
“If you have the same strategy as every other club then you're fighting for the same free agents or the same draft capital or the same talent pool that you can bring. I think us being in a younger spot now, we're able to do some things with the salary cap or how contracts are set up and potentially look to free agency over the next couple of years that other clubs can't do because they haven't done it the way we have.
“What that does is it gives us a point of difference and when you're building a list and building a strategy, if you're trying to do what everyone else is doing, the resources are finite so I'm really confident in the direction we're going.”
Mitchell and the Hawks have previously come under fire from Cornes and other media commentators over a plan which leaves Hawthorn the most exposed of any club heading into 2023.
But the Port Adelaide great applauded Mitchell and his club for being bold enough to task a risk and share it with the public.
“I loved what Sam Mitchell said to the AFL website the other day,” Cornes began on SEN Breakfast.
“He gave a real insight, this is gold sort of stuff from Sam Mitchell about their strategy around rebuild.
“We’re all going from the outside, ‘you’re mad’… I might not agree with what Hawthorn has done, but I can see Melbourne are topping up, Port Adelaide are topping up, Geelong are topping up and Port Adelaide are topping up. North Melbourne are already into a rebuild, Adelaide are four years into a rebuild.
“If Hawthorn is the only team rebuilding right now, that’s going to give the salary cap space, top access to draft players, capital to try and attract free agents, so I loved that.”
James Worpel now shapes as Hawthorn’s oldest on-baller at 24 years of age, while Luke Bruest is the club’s only player over 30.
The average Hawk on Mitchell’s list has played just 42.6 games.
“I agree with (that it’s a dangerous player). But at least we’ve got a coach saying this is the strategy and this is why we’re doing that,” Cornes continued.
“I don’t necessarily agree with it, I think they’ve cut too deep, but Mitchell’s stood up there with his point of difference… so I did like that.”
Hawthorn took two players in the first round of the National Draft in Cameron McKenzie and Josh Weddle to add to the five first-round draft picks already on the club’s list.