Mitchell arrived in Perth on Sunday and with pre-season beginning on Monday for the players in their first to fourth years, he is straight to business and already has helped identify where Fremantle must improve.
Mitchell joins former Western Bulldogs and Collingwood defender and West Perth;s coach of the last three years, Todd Curley, as the midfield coaches for 2009.
Mitchell, a former Sydney, Carlton and Collingwood rover, assistant coach at Carlton and Hawthorn, and coach of VFL sides Northern Bullants and Box Hill Hawks, says getting the club's midfield fitter is where the work needs to begin.
"The game is such a running game now, where most of the guys need the ability to run well. You have a few that play in a key position but the rest need to cover the ground. This pre-season is a new start for us and we need to get fit and good enough to do that for 22 weeks of the year," he said.
"We need to get our running to a level where we can compete and get over the top of sides. I'm sure that's what we will be working on over the pre-season, as well as how we move the ball, get it to our forwards and how we defend. Footy's changing all the time so we need to get better at all that."
While young players Rhys Palmer and Garrick Ibbotson can expect more time in the midfield in 2009, so too can Paul Hasleby and Des Headland, who are coming off injury-ruined 2008 seasons.
"Paul is a very good player and was highly rated before he got injured," he said.
"He's really dangerous forward and in the midfield and having him and Des Headland not play a lot of the season took a lot of bite out of the midfield. They can help set up the rest of the side so it's really important they are fully fit and have good years."
Mitchell believes his experience helps him bring a wealth of knowledge to Fremantle.
"It's all about perception and I can't determine what people think of me. All I can do is do my best and that's what I'll do here. This is just another step for me to get back into the fully hurly burly of it all and I'm looking forward to it," he said.
"I had coached the Bullants for four years and then coached Box Hill last year, so I've had a lot of experience with younger guys and that will help with our young list here.
"I was involved with everything at Hawthorn. I was assistant to Todd Viney in the midfield, was there on match days, was at all meetings and was basically full time on top of coaching Box Hill. It was a great year and I really enjoyed it."
