Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell understands the source of Luke Hodge’s frustration with Jack Ginnivan but has brushed off the Hawks great’s criticism of his behaviour as “old-school”.
Mitchell’s four-time premiership teammate called on the coach and senior Hawthorn players to pull Ginnivan back into line on Tuesday after his controversial “see you next week” Instagram comment directed at Sydney ruckman Brodie Grundy.
Hodge said the comment had overstepped a line and would increase Port Adelaide’s motivation to perform against its semi-final opponent.
Watch the best coverage of the 2024 AFL finals, with expert analysis and every game until the Grand Final LIVE with no ad-breaks during play, on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial today >
IMAGINE WHAT YOU COULD BE BUYING INSTEAD. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.
“What you do is you send banter in a text message, you don’t put it out in the open for Port Adelaide to sit there and go ‘Let’s use this and get stuck into Ginnivan’,” Hodge told SEN on Tuesday.
“You don’t want to go give anything to an opponent to try and make them come out any more pumped up.”
Asked what he thought of the criticism, Mitchell said on Wednesday he would not have expected the Power to need any extra motivation ahead of the Friday night clash.
“Our players, a lot of them don’t have each other’s phone numbers – in my world, you send each other a text,” he said.
“They don’t do that, that’s not how they communicate. They send it via Snapchat, or TikTok, who knows what else they do?
“The way the world operates in that realm is not my expertise … ‘Hodgey’ is obviously from my old-school days. I heard his comments, and I know he’s just trying to spur on the Hawks as he goes for us this week.
“I think Port Adelaide have got their season on the line, the same way we do … I think both teams are going to be as highly motivated as you could possibly hope for.”
Mitchell said he was “a little bit torn” on how to replace injured fullback Sam Frost, but his choice appeared to have narrowed to two options.
VFL defenders Ethan Phillips (one senior game) and Jai Serong (nine) were the frontrunners, with the latter in better form at the end of Box Hill’s season but Phillips a more like-for-like replacement.
Changkuoth Jiath also remains out of the side, but the Hawks speedster trained with the midfield group on Wednesday in a sign he will not be considered for a shift to defence.
Mitchell was adamant the Hawks would not change their selection decision if Port Adelaide swung a change to its forward line, with Charlie Dixon and Esava Ratugolea under pressure and the more nimble Todd Marshall waiting in the wings.
“You’re a little bit torn, you obviously can’t replace exactly Sam Frost … he’s been so important for us, and he’s had a fantastic season,” he said.
“Once we come up with our plan, we’re not going to make any late changes according to what they’ve done.”
Mitchell said Josh Ward’s 22-disposal, five-clearance performance as a centre-bounce midfielder in the win over the Bulldogs gave him great faith in any reserve player the Hawks called in.
“Last week he took (his chance), and that gives us great confidence the development programs that we have in place are working really well,” Mitchell said.
It’s not just (Ward) – Finn Maginness, Harry Morrison, those guys have played a lot of VFL footy, and that gives me confidence for the Frosty replacement that whoever takes that spot will have been in good form, will have played a lot of VFL footy, and there’s a lot of evidence that you can perform well in your first game in.”
Discussion about this post