PRIDE, pain and everything in between. Sam Mitchell lived the full gamut of emotions in the aftermath of Friday night’s three-point semi-final loss to Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.
The third-year Hawthorn coach was raw when he addressed his players and then the media less than 30 minutes after the Hawks’ phenomenal recovery from a 0-5 start to 2024 ended on the second weekend of September.
Hawthorn trailed at every break and were as much as 22 points down midway through the second quarter, before rallying late to almost pinch a famous victory, but hit the post with two shots deep into time-on.
“The pain I felt and the pain I saw on their faces, we are all as one; it is not just the players, it’s the staff. I looked at all the faces, all the red eyes and it was pain and disappointment, frustration, regret, pride, all staring straight back at me. I’m sure it’s all over my face right now,” Mitchell said.
“It is a brutal game. We came from a long way back at the start of the year. We gave ourselves chances, but didn’t quite take them. I take enormous pride in the playing group. We’ve had some enormous challenges in not just this season, but the last few years. When our fans go to work on Monday, they can be very proud of our boys.”
Mitchell said the heartache of a knockout final loss on the road would drive this group across the summer and inspire the young group at Waverley Park to progress deeper this time next year.
“Pain is a great motivator,” Mitchell said.
“When you think about each training session, doing extra reps, there is a little bit of pain that burns into you. We’re not good enough to feel like we can be complacent. We’re going to have to make progress; it’s not a natural linear progression; I’ve said all year that we’re far from a finished product.”
Mitchell expressed his disappointment with the way Ken Hinkley spoke to Jack Ginnivan and then James Sicily after the final siren, before Luke Breust was chaired off following his 300th game.
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Port Adelaide’s coach made a point that he didn’t rate Ginnivan’s Instagram comment on Brodie Grundy’s post earlier in the week – ‘See u in 14 days’ – and revealed after Mitchell’s press conference that the Power felt disrespected and used it as motivation. Hinkley apologised for his actions on Channel 7 and then again in his press conference.
“I can only speak on my club’s behalf and think about how my club, the Hawthorn Football Club, dealt with the post-game. We had a very young player who had some really aggressive words said to him by a much older man, who has been in the game for a long time. The captain of my club stood up for him,” Mitchell said.
“It is really tough to sit here right now, getting pressure from the AFL to make sure you’re in the press conference on time.
“I understand the emotions of this time of year. It is really, really difficult. I’m proud of our captain, who would have been just as emotional. He was able to stand up and lead in a way that he can be proud of.”
Sicily was moved forward in the last quarter and produced some of the biggest moments of the game, plucking contested marks but wasting a couple of chances that will stay with him over the pre-season.
The All-Australian courageously played through the second half of the season with a shoulder that is set for a reconstruction in the coming weeks, after two dislocations during the winter.