Sam Mitchell returns to Hawthorn

Yep they are, Rosa was all class in his prime and is a life member, Bateman has been doing good things down at lathlain with Perth aswell as working for the Wirra foundation is also a life member of hawthorn and van Berlo was the obvious choice to take over the midfield from the excellent work he did as stoppages and centre bounce coach this season.

Don Freo, noted mind reader.

Agree, Jonboy. Don's in his own world.

Mitchell is a legend played a big part in this years premiership, no smear or big deal at all to leave. To label him dishonest is more absolute rubbish.

Sam smears his own reputation. I am just responding to the reputation he has already established.

Perhaps Sam was actually okay over west. Perhaps his wife suffered from her own perspective. Comparing assistant coaches with current players is like comparing apples and oranges. WC seemed okay with the decision as did Simmo. What more do you want? More fun to speculate and smear reputations I suppose.

Wow! They are excellent appointments.

Van Berlo has taken over midfield, Matt Rosa has come back as stoppage coach and chance Bateman has joined as a coach/player development role

Mitch rolls out, midfield is taken over by van Berlo(captain of adl and over 200 games), Matt Rosa takes over stoppages and chance Bateman comes in aswell.

I'm not disparaging all contracts Don - I wouldn't recommend buying a house without one. Now, it's an interesting point you make about contract leverage - certainly where coaching is concerned the club has far less leverage, as there isn't the urgency of a playing career and limited years to do it in - and when push comes to shove, an organisation like a football club doesn't want to be seen to be either bullying employees or overly reliant on a single individual, whether that be on or off the field. It's not a good look. So they let them go. Maybe if West Coast didn't win the grand final he'd have stayed on another year - I don't see the issue in a job being terminated by mutual consent. Luke Hodge has worked wonders at the Lions in only one season, Mitchell is just as much an asset and the Eagles have had him for two. They have done very well out of this. I imagine they'd be disappointed but not unhappy. Certainly Hawthorn will do very well out of this though. Perhaps that is why you are so irritated by this.

A contract is still a good lever. Not so much in this case but certainly with player movement. Freo would not have done what they've done in this draft without the lever of his contract. Mitchell? Well, he is just dishonest.

Its probably the wife that is not happy...she is the one who I would guess was not aware how much travel is involved with an interstate footy team. Leave Friday morning for a Saturday game, back midday (at best) on Sunday, probably too tired to go on a family outing... and thats not counting games the 6 day breaks...its a big ask for a young couple with small kids. By year two she probably wasnt handling it as well as she thought she could, not without the support of her family. So Sam did the right thing and requested a trade home. He was a strong personality (slushiegate) so hopefully the replacement will be a similar character. I suspect his (Mitchells) tough / intense side was a good foil for Simpsons relaxed style.

I guess it must be OK for everybody in the football world to break contracts these days with some dubious excuse,in fact why even have a contract in the first place.

This story is about Mitchell not Kelly . Mitchell is a veteran footballer who was completely aware of the travel constraints before coming to Perth to stay. To whinge 2 years into a 4 year contract about the travel is pathetic. The worst thing about him returning to Hawthorne is he will take the knowledge of the Eagles set ups & game plans back to Hawthorne. I can clearly see why Josh Kennedy said he was an arrogant pr*ck at last years Worsfold medal night.

I rate Sam Mitchell highly, both as a player and a coach. I agree with other comments that this decision was a fait accompli which, imo, was carefully and surreptitiously put together before he ever left Hawthorn. In fairness, Sam took a lot of the Hawks winning intellectual capital with him to West Coast and applied it successfully there. It was Mitchell’s spark at three quarter time in their first final against Collingwood that facilitated a Weagles victory. Then, West Coast win the flag - without Nic Nat and Gaff!! So, it stands to reason that since Sam has proven himself at West Coast and contributed to a flag, that it was somehow timely (and convenient) for Ratten to be given marching orders so Mitchell could return to Waverley. Now, watch out the other teams! Hawks will likely be running close to more successive flags (but, I hope I’m wrong). I don’t hold any grudges for Sam returning early to the Hawks. Holding a person (player or coach) to a contract these days seems the exception rather than the rule! Ethics and morality won’t compete with business, it seems...... Huge loss for West Coast though.

This notion that contracts are somehow sacred is one of the most tiresome aspects of football journalism that keeps getting trotted out. Contracts have been repeatedly shown to not be worth anything in AFL football, contracts can be disregarded, withdrawn - the ultimate resolution is someone leaves one organisation and that organisation stops paying for them. As has happened here with Mitchell. West Coast have done pretty well out of it, they got access to one of the best footballing brains going around, and he helped them win a premiership. Win/win I'd say. In practical terms their only bargaining chip to avoid him leaving was to keep paying him for 2 years to deny access to him to other clubs, but honestly - this is football, it's not something that actually matters or is serious enough as to enforceably put someone out on gardening leave until the end of 2020. That would be something that I think would have made people say "take your hand off it" in terms of how seriously this game takes itself at times.

Tim Kelly of course is in error but what a strange line of argument to excuse Sam Mitchell. Kelly is a newcomer to the system. Mitchell is a veteran milking the system. What a difference. The article is about Mitchell.

I don't think so. A midfielder given a chance to learn from Ablett, Selwood, Duncan and Dangerfield wants to leave. What an opportunity! He should just dump his manager. The income Geelong has given him allows for payment of excellent special needs support for his oldest kid.

So, why is he not there for 4 years? There is no defence. Certainly what you offer only highlights his only serving for half the time he said he would. No integrity there.

You could ask the same question of Tim Kelly.