Mitchell concedes kneed to change

Hawthorn champion Sam Mitchell will set out to eliminate the controversial corking action from his game, admitting it is not a good look.

Mitchell was handed a $1000 ban from the AFL for his knee to Fremantle midfielder Nat Fyfe’s thigh in Sunday’s win in Launceston.

On Tuesday, he told the club’s website he had reviewed the footage and conceded he needed to change his game.

“I can understand why it’s not a good look and it’s not a good thing for a game,” he said.

“The game has given me the feedback that I need to change the way I need to go about doing that.”

While Mitchell’s fine was for “intentional conduct”, he said he did not mean to injure Fyfe.

“It’s not my intention in that situation to hurt the other person, it’s purely just to protect myself,” he said.

The incident with Fyfe was close enough to Mitchell’s previous unpunished run-in with Adelaide captain Taylor Walker, for the Crows forward to tweet “Lightning strikes twice.”

Mitchell’s teammate Josh Gibson said the two incidents didn’t make Mitchell a serial offender.

“Mitch has played the game for a long time … I think 14 years and we haven’t seen a lot of it,” he said.

“Now that it’s happened twice in such a short part of time he’ll go away and work on it.”

The Hawks dispatched Fremantle with consummate ease in Launceston, and now prepare for the grand final rematch against Sydney on Saturday night.

Mitchell said their performance in Launceston, the Hawks’ sixth win in a row, would give them confidence.

“Although we’ve been winning … we haven’t been hitting our absolute straps,” he said.

“I think on the weekend was a step forward, we were able to put four quarters together.”

With James Frawley rated a 50/50 chance to play, Gibson could come up against his former teammate in Lance Franklin at ANZ Stadium.

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