PREMIER Hawthorn has lost another of its assistant coaches after confirmation that Barry Mitchell will head west to join Fremantle.

Adelaide announced on Monday that the Hawks' midfield coach, Todd Viney, had been added to its staff and now Mitchell will oversee Fremantle's midfielders after a season at Hawthorn in charge of its VFL team, Box Hill.

Before joining the Hawks, Mitchell spent five years at Carlton, which included coaching the Northern Bullants, and has maintained a strong involvement in football following a career that included 221 games with the Sydney Swans, Carlton and Collingwood.

Mitchell's appointment at Fremantle concludes a week which saw the club also announce former Western Bulldogs defender Todd Curley as an assistant coach.

"Barry is an experienced coach who has enhanced his coaching credentials by being part of a premiership-winning club," Fremantle chief executive Steve Rosich said.

"He had a long and distinguished playing career as a midfielder and is ideally suited to the role of assistant coach (midfield) at Fremantle."

Mitchell was pleased to accept the opportunity presented by Fremantle, and looks forward to applying some of his practices learnt in his time with the Hawks.

"I’m looking forward to devoting all my energies to an AFL team and doing all I can at Fremantle to help further develop what is obviously going to be a young list," he said.

"I’ve been working with younger players for the past five or six years, so I’m really excited about working with the younger guys at Fremantle and, hopefully, starting to climb up the ladder.

"Hawthorn’s premiership has been built over the past four years," the 42-year-old added.

"They went for a youth policy and developed a game plan and a strategy which has come to fruition.

"It’s not only the way they play and stick to their game plan, it’s also how they conduct themselves off the field and the discipline they adhere to.

"I know some of those things are already in place at Fremantle, so I’m looking forward to adding to that."

Fremantle's coaching staff for 2009 is now finalised, with Mark Harvey flanked by Mitchell, Curley, Dean Wallis and Chris Scott.

Other key appointments have been made within the football department in recent weeks, including that of general manager of football operations Chris Bond.