SAM MITCHELL was "pissed right off" by suggestions he spat at Port Adelaide forward Sam Gray but he wants to move on ahead of another do-or-die final against Greater Western Sydney.
The West Coast veteran was dumbfounded that he had to respond to reports he tried to spat at or in the direction of Gray moments after conceding a free-kick in the third quarter of Saturday night's epic elimination final win.
"It pissed me right off, to be honest," Mitchell told reporters on Monday.
"There was three people a metre away and no one thought anything of it, and people watching it on a camera from who knows where think something of it.
"I was pretty disappointed with the way it was reported, to be honest.
"I was not too happy about it. It wasn't something I was intending to do or even close to being anything like what some people reported it.
"But you've got no control over what's said on the external, so it's not a big deal. We'll laugh it off."
The Eagles are quickly turning their attention to the Giants, with only three full days back in Perth before they fly out to Sydney on Thursday.
Four-time premiership Hawk Mitchell is well-versed in refocusing immediately, and implored his teammates to come down off the high of an after-the-siren win over Port.
"The great challenge for us now is it's such an emotional time … and now we need to bring ourselves right back down because we've got another game to prepare for," he said.
"All our fans, thousands and thousands of people are so happy about what happened on the weekend, and us as players and as a football club we need to move on so quickly – we don't get to bask in it."
A still of match vision showing the moment in question, with alleged saliva circled.
The Eagles face a tough ask backing up with consecutive weeks' travel for the upcoming Saturday night clash and were bleary-eyed after arriving home on Sunday with only a few hours' sleep.
Recovery is the No.1 focus this week after playing a frantic 140 minutes against the Power.
"I think everyone's a bit stiff and sore today, but there's plenty of time," Mitchell said.
"It's probably going to be a good thing that we're travelling. Everyone here is so excited about what has happened and what's going to happen.
"I think for us to go away, travel, be together in the team hotel and spend time working on the gameplan we need to execute for the weekend is probably going to be a good thing for us.
"I think physically we're going to have no issues come Saturday night."
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