Hawthorn have announced their coaching line-up for 2021.
Alastair Clarkson's coaching staff will have Chris Newman, Brendon Bolton and Craig McRae as assistants, while Sam Mitchell will become Head of Development.
Mitchell will lead the development of Hawthorn's playing list with a focus on the first to fifth-year players, while also taking on the senior coaching role at the Box Hill Hawks.
Coaching the Box Hill Hawks will allow him to carry his teaching from training through until match day and run his own programs.
โMitch is an outstanding coach and has proven his ability to work with and develop young players to become standard features in our senior line-up,โ Hawks Chief of Football Graham Wright told the club website.
โThis new role allows Sam to run his own program at Box Hill and to have an eye over the entirety of our young cohort's development which we see as really important.
โWe have been open about the fact that as a club we are focused on developing a new wave of talent to build us to our next premiership and Mitchโs role as Head of Development will be crucial in this.
Mitchell added: โThe development of young talent is something Iโm really passionate about so to now have that as the focus of my role at Hawthorn is personally something I am really excited to get started.
โHaving the opportunity to coach my own team and be a part of every stage of playersโ development is an incredible prospect.
โMy role really is to get the best out of all of our young guys and the opportunity to align the two programs really closely by structuring it this way is hugely exciting and presents a fantastic opportunity for players and as an extension of that, our club.โ
