Mitchell's tenure as captain was questioned on the weekend by club legend Dermott Brereton, who told The Age he believed Hodge was the Hawks' "spiritual leader" and should have taken on the role two seasons ago.
The 27-year-old skipper admitted he often thought Hodge should hold the top job owing to his hard-nut attitude and leadership abilities.
"I'm sure there are players in our group that think that 'Hodgey' should be captain," Mitchell said. "Sometimes I think that too because it's just the way he is; he's such a fantastic leader and he does some exceptional things.
"When we had our last vote, I was in front and when we have the next one, he might be.
"Internally, it's not a huge, big saga the way everyone likes to make out it is. I think we're both very good leaders of our footy club."
Brereton's comments came after commentator Garry Lyon wrote in the same publication that Mitchell's leadership style resonated "more with the 'suits' than it does with those who pull on the jumper," and that Hodge was a more identifiable character for the players.
Mitchell said the players had joked about Brereton's claims that some of the current Hawks didn't even view him as a "teammate and friend".
"After that came out, you walk around the footy club and see someone having a stretch and you think, 'Are we friends, what's going on?'" he laughed.
"We have a bit of a joke about it. People in the media, they hear one opinion from one person and they run with it and think it's across the board."
However, Mitchell admitted the comments had been slightly hurtful.
"It didn't affect my self esteem. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit annoyed about it," he said.
"I'm not sure why there's speculation about it. One person gives their opinion to a journalist and that ends up resonating through articles and talkback.
"The support I got from our footy club has been first class. I picked up the paper the day after and [Jeff] Kennett and [Brad] Sewell and 'Hodgey' himself said things that support me in my role.
"I'm confident I'm doing a good job as captain of the footy club and I'll continue to do that regardless of what other people think."
Mitchell said the Hawks' upset win over Carlton on Sunday had not been influenced by the comments.
"I don't think we need an external galvanising force," he said. "If you rely on things like that, you're probably in trouble as a playing group.
"If your motivation doesn't come from internally, it's not sustainable. We can't get Garry Lyon or Dermott Brereton to say something every time we need a foot up the a*se.
"We need to be able to drive that internally and I'd like to think that is what has happened over the last few weeks."
Mitchell has not spoken to either Brereton or Lyon since the articles were published.
