FOR SAM Mitchell, the distinction is clear.

"This is a fun place to be, but it's not a joking place to be," the Hawthorn coach said of his club.

As a remarkable run to last year's finals series saw the Hawks break a nine-year drought without a finals win, Hawthorn became something of a movement.

It was about post-game selfies, unique celebrations, crowd adoration, social media leaders, in-house enjoyment, Hokball, wizardry and a brashness that teetered between confidence and cockiness.

But for Mitchell, the approach is grounded in hard work as the Hawks start this season as one of the premiership favourites.

"With our players, what you see is this great joy and fun. I don't want anyone to be mistaken that we don't drive a hard standard and they don't push a high standard of each other and there's not a level of expectation," Mitchell told AFL.com.au.

"There is humour in what we do and we try to make it fun but we definitely work hard. We sit in meetings, we do a lot of learning, we do a lot of growing as athletes and staff to make sure the standards we are holding are continually getting higher and higher and higher."

Hawthorn's list profile has changed with the additions of Tom Barrass and Josh Battle – it now enters the season as the eighth most experienced team in the competition – but the evolution of the identity of the group will also be among the fascination around the Hawks this season.

"You want to put on entertainment and engage the fans and make sure it's a show people want to see and people love to play," he said.

"That's the guardrails. Big paddock, strong fences, as they say. As they mature they'll pick it up more themselves but sometimes there's a bit of guidance in making sure we're very respectful of the opposition and fans, then celebrate in whichever way you like."

The 42-year-old four-time premiership winner is mindful of new-age attention spans and how young people operate, but said players' investment in their games remained deep, just that they were taking notes on iPads or reMarkable tablets instead of with pens and paper.

"In a generation gone by, getting honesty out of your players I imagine was a bit more difficult. It was, 'You do your job, I do my job.' Now current players ask 'Why?' a lot more often. If you say jump, it's not a 'how high?' mentality in current society. So you explain why we need to jump, how we have to handle the situations. Players are much more likely to say 'OK, so why are we doing that?'" Mitchell said.

"It tests your communication skills and coaching, but the fact they care so much and they want to understand it is an enjoyable environment and it feels very collaborative.

"There's a serious side to the game which probably isn't as cool for TikTok but it's certainly very prevalent inside the four walls."

TikTok has ever-so-subtly slipped into Mitchell's own four walls of his office at Waverley Park as well.

There's the plush leather couches, notes from his kids pinned to the walls, mottos scribbled on a whiteboard and four sets of shoes lined up under the window (including his footy boots for training), while behind his desk there's a framed photo of Matt Dixon, Hawthorn's head of media, with the club's winning trophy after a TikTok award last year for the Hawks' high level of engagement.

It is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the open house, nothing-to-hide approach Mitchell has taken, which will gain further traction with a full-blown documentary following the Hawks' pre-season to be released soon. But Mitchell doesn't want the fun to be confused with the footy.

"We're enormously pleased with how our fans and club have got behind this new era we've tried to create, the way we play and the energy that's created out of it. I think that's created a positive external image," Mitchell said.

"Will that always be positive? Well, probably not, but does that matter? Is that why we do it? It's not. Why we play the way we play is because we think it's going to give us success and the players are very focused on the success at the end."

Part of that has been working through how to fit his squad together. Barrass and Battle's arrivals have bolstered the backline, meaning James Sicily and Blake Hardwick could be thrown more into attack. Last year the Hawks had eight players kick more than 20 goals, with Mitchell still devising how his front half shapes up against Sydney in Opening Round, particularly given the injury absences of Calsher Dear (back) and Mitch Lewis (knee).

"Across the pre-season we've been pushing that can down the road and there's about to be no more road. If I was really honest, we're not quite sure about the mix of the team," he said.

"We know that probably there's some resources this year that might need to be moved around. Sometimes it feels like we've got one too many pieces for the jigsaw and we need the jigsaw to fit together to beat the team we're playing every week.

"We have a group of players who are definitely playing, then there's another six to 10 guys who whether they should or could be playing or are ready to play, there's going to be some good players who miss. And if you want to be a team at the top of the ladder, good players miss out."

Hawthorn's charge last year ended with a three-point defeat to Port Adelaide in the semi-final, which led to the controversial Ken Hinkley and Jack Ginnivan aftermath. Mitchell said the reflections on that game had been entirely on what happened between the sirens and not after, and that the lessons from that game had underpinned some of their training over summer, including the tight-game results.

"Does it sting? Of course it does. Did we deserve to finish higher than we did? Absolutely not. We didn't deserve to finish higher than we did. We got what we deserved in the season," he said.

"Hopefully we're an improved close game team this year."

SAM MITCHELL ON…

Nick Watson facing more attention in season two
"The thing with Nick is, he's had the biggest profile wherever he's played. He had the biggest profile when he was playing at Eastern Ranges, he had the biggest profile when he was playing at Caulfield Grammar. The profile there compared to what he's about to go through is insignificant, but he was still under more pressure than his teammates always. He's well built for that. Will he handle that well every week of every year? I hope so, but most people don't. Most people have little ebbs and flows so I anticipate that's going to happen for him in the same way it is for just about every other player. My role and our role as a club is to guide him, make sure he's on the right track holistically and to just make sure he's protected in the way he needs to be. But he knows if you're good at footy, pressure comes, and especially if you're as marketable as he is. People are going to want to talk about it, people are going to want to talk about Nick Watson far more than most other athletes so we need to make sure he has the skills that will help him be able to handle that."

Where Josh Weddle will be playing
"In the backline. Because of his physical attributes, everyone is so excited about what he might be able to do, whether it be forward or the wing or the midfield. I remember when we drafted him, (Geelong's Mark) Blicavs was in the long-term plan and that type of player who could play lots of different roles. But we forget sometimes how young (Weddle) is. Even though physically he's perhaps ready for all of those things, while we will expose him to some different positions at different stages, having a home base for a young athlete and making sure they genuinely master one position first is a key belief."

Will Day's return from collarbone injury
"The injury was a delicate one and we were very, very hopeful rather than optimistic about it. I thought our medical team did a fantastic job, I couldn't be prouder of the way they handled that situation. For an injury so risky, to give him every chance but not to put a player at risk in a serious way, I was really proud of. His future's obviously bright and we're all looking forward to how he fits in. He's still got that great versatility where sometimes we can put him behind the ball, or he can go forward at times as well."

The impact of recruits Tom Barrass and Josh Battle
"(Barrass') off-field influence for everyone has been fantastic. Everyone has enjoyed his company, his leadership, his way that he sees the world is maybe a bit unorthodox. Then on the field he has been so vulnerable saying that 'I'm doing so much learning'. He's in a steep learning curve, but he's also in a heavy teaching phase for a lot of our players. It's been great to see him evolve and grow and going to his wedding and seeing the other side of him. He's been a fantastic acquisition off the field and he will be on the field but we haven't seen that just yet. Josh Battle is similar but he's a bit younger. With Josh, he's had a different side of influence. All of the players have said 'It's so good when he's out there with you'. He's always talking, helping you with your opponent and he covers a lot of ground with his workrate so his on-field stuff has been first class and he's fitted in completely seamlessly. Off the field he's more of a behind the scenes operator. He won't be the big loud one in the meeting who is holding court but when you say 'Who's helping you with this?' the amount of players who have said 'Oh I'm doing some vision with Josh Battle'."