Hawks veterans are ‘vital players’

HAWTHORN coach Sam Mitchell has defended the “influence” of senior players Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara despite reduced midfield minutes for both among significant changes to the on-ball brigade for the first-year coach.

The Hawks will regain key forward Mitch Lewis from injury for Saturday’s crunch clash with Richmond, and Chad Wingard has overcome the illness that forced him to miss what would have been his 200th game last weekend against Essendon.

But the spotlight has been placed on Mitchell, the 2018 Brownlow medallist who picked up a season-low 14 disposals in last week’s final-quarter surrender to the Bombers as he adjusts to life away from the midfield.

His numbers have been on a downward trend in 2022, averaging 10 disposals less per game than in 2021, as Mitchell plays more time forward, while O’Meara is averaging a careerlow 20.3 disposals this season as he too spends less time at centre bounces.

The Hawks have slumped to 3-5 after winning the opening two games of the season and Mitchell said the new roles for the pair were part of his new-look midfield being a “work in progress”.

But the first-year coach said any talk of trading out either Mitchell or O’Meara, who has captained the Hawks in the absence of Ben McEvoy, at season’s end, amid reports they now had little value on the open market, was the “furthest thing from my mind”.

“It’s round 8. They are really important parts of our club, of our team, of our leadership model, of our influence,” Mitchell said on Wednesday.

“We are trying to master our craft and hold ourselves to the standard that we think will take us to finals and have an ability to play finals and they are going to be an important part of that.”

The Hawthorn coach said Tom Mitchell was having “different contributions” to the team, having averaged nearly 35 disposals a match in recent seasons, but was still a “vital player”.

“Across the last few seasons our midfield has been a work in progress and we are really trying to get the mix right,” coach Mitchell said.

“I think we’ve made significant changes through the year. We’ve had three different ruckmen, six or seven players go through the midfield. Tom and Jaegar are both spending less time in there but having different contributions through the game.

“Tom had a day where he would have wanted to do things differently, but he’s still learning the craft and he’s still making a contribution.”

Mitchell said there was no certain return date for McEvoy, who remains sidelined with a neck injury.