Hodge took over from Mitchell at the club's best and fairest count in September and he said on Tuesday that he hadn't felt overawed by the task ahead of him thanks mainly to the successful environment the premiership skipper helped create.
"The way Sammy left the guys last year it's been quite an easy job to come into," Hodge said from Waverley.
"The intent and the attitude of the guys this pre-season has been great. I haven't had to do too much as yet. If it stays that way I'll be rapt.
"In the last three years I've learned a lot off Sammy. He's helped me out a fair bit.
"Over the last three years our discipline has been outstanding and you can't fault the guys for the way they've come back to training. It's been very impressive."
The skipper is confident the strong pre-season campaign has the Hawks well-placed for a successful 2011 with only Rick Ladson and Xavier Ellis missing from training after undergoing post-season surgery.
"This is the most we've had on the track [at this time] for the last four or five years," Hodge said.
"The intensity of our pre-season loads have gone up for the last couple of years, but the guys are handling it well."
The ability of the club's latest draft class, led by first-round draft pick Isaac Smith, to adapt to the heavier training loads has only served to reinforce Hodge's optimism.
"Looking at the guys they've already done a fair bit of work," he said.
"Every year that they get drafted they seem to come in more prepared for an AFL pre-season. I think a lot of the new guys have done most of the work and have been pretty impressive on the track."
The full Hawthorn squad for the 2011 season was at Waverley on Tuesday for the team photo along with two lucky members who spent the day at the club after finding winning golden tickets in their membership packs.
The club will release 10 golden tickets with the main prize of a unique Hawks' experience to be drawn in round two of the premiership season as the club drives towards its membership target of 60,000.
