“When you are playing well and you're up and going, youdon't want to change anything,” Mitchell says.
“What we were doing through that early to mid part of theyear [was] training really hard, and we thought it was all going well. Probablywe ended up over-training just a little bit and got into a little bit of a rut.We didn't want to change anything because we'd been going okay, but once welost a couple of games we think, ‘Gee, well maybe we can afford to freshen up alittle bit’.
“In hindsight, perhaps we could have done it a couple ofgames earlier. But certainly in the past two weeks, in particular, we'vehad a lot of time off [our] legs. We've been going to the sea baths andswimming in the ocean and doing things like that rather than getting worked toohard on the track.”
Mitchell now believes fitness will be the team’s biggestasset going into the business end of the season.
“I think we're running out games better than we have allseason and I think our fitness is really starting to worry sides … our lastquarters have been as good as anyone’s in the competition. I think sides arereally starting to be troubled with the run of our midfield in particular.”
Mitchell was particularly impressed with the performance of themidfield group when they squared up to the might of Brisbane’s Nigel Lappin andSimon Black in the Hawks’ 24-point victory at the weekend.
“As far as the midfield battles have gone, the Lions got us probably the last three times we've playedthem, so it was really good to get one back. Brad Sewell's job on Simon Blackreally set the tone for us. Black wasn't able to have his usual impact, whichis always so significant around stoppages.
“And then Robbie Campbell and Simon Taylor in the ruck – their work, particularly in thesecond half, really gave us first use of the footy and we were able to peg backa fairly significant deficit in the clearances in the second half. To be ableto get on top against triple premiership players ... lets us know that we areactually going okay as a midfield group.”
Mitchell is hopeful that captain Richie Vandenberg, whosustained a knee injury during the MCG clash, won’t miss any games.
“We’re just hoping it’s just a bit of a knock to the knee.It’s very low-grade. He’s moving around today and having scans this afternoon,so hopefully he’ll be available for this week.”
Mitchell, along with Luke Hodge, has on occasion filled theskipper’s role during Vandenberg’s absence, and is pleased with how his sidedealt with the half-time melee at the ‘G’.
“Buddy kicked a very good goal at half time and I think alot of teams have tried to get into Buddy. Because he’s so talented they’vetried to get inside his head, but it hasn’t worked. As a group I think we’reresponding very well to any physical assaults like that. I think our thirdquarter showed that we moved on pretty quickly from it.”
Mitchell made light of talk about children in Auskick beingon the field at the time of the disturbance.
“If I can survive in there, in what you call a melee, then Ithink any Auskick kid would be able to too,” Mitchell said with a laugh.
This weekend the Hawks face Port Adelaide at Aurora Stadiumin Launceston. With both sides on equal points, Mitchell says it’s a crucial contest.
“I think Port Adelaide are in pretty good form. Certainlythey had a bit of a lull during the season, similar to us, and we were able toget over them while they were having that lull over there. Now getting them onour second home down in Tassie is going to be a huge game for us, one the wholefooty world will be hoping to watch to see just how good both sides are.”
The talented midfielder predicts that his side will maintainits good position for at least the next few seasons.
“When Clarko came to Hawthorn, he put in a long-term plan torebuild the footy club. We’re two, nearly three years into that system.Hopefully, that will put us in a strong position where we can be a very, verystrong side for not just one year but for the next four or five years [and]really threaten the top of the ladder.”
