The Agenda Setters on Channel 7 has Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell addressing players arrest vision – Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell joined the Agenda Setters to address the vision that emerged today on Hawks stars being arrested in the U.S.
Cornes: “How shocked were you that it was alleged that Dylan Moore had drug paraphernalia on him?”
Mitchell: “That charge has been dismissed, so I can’t really add anything to that. I was enormously disappointed in the behaviour and you’ve seen some of it now. None of it is a surprise, because they were really upfront about it right from the start. And although it was far from ideal at the time, and since they’ve had to deal with quite a bit, they have handed it as well as possible since obviously, making some poor decisions at that time.”
Cornes: “There’s the vision here that we were speaking of. Do you think you’ve got a drug problem at the footy club? And if you did, would you know?”
Mitchell: “I don’t think we have an issue, no. Would I know? I would like to think I’d have some idea about it. I know that there is talk about that amongst young people, and amongst, obviously, the AFL, in general, gets the spotlight on us, as we should, as role models, in the community, but I would like to think that this is something that has been dismissed from the legal point of view, so I can’t really add anything to it, but I don’t think it’s an ongoing issue at Hawthorn.”
Wilson: “So it’s been dismissed from a legal point of view? Is there any suggestion that Dylan will be doing any form of program under the AFL’s new drug rules?”
Mitchell: “My understanding with the new AFL side of things is that it hasn’t been finalised, and we’re still waiting to hear those types of things, but, as I said, that’s been dismissed, so I don’t think that’ll be the focus going forward.”
Wilson: “So this story was broken a week ago. It happened late last year. And the AFL advised you at the time to go public at the time and nip it in the bud and get it out there. Do you regret now that you didn’t take that advice from the AFL? I know you’ve cited there were some legal issues, but my understanding is you still could have made it public back in November and taken a lot of pressure off Dylan Moore.“
Mitchell: “I’m not sure that would have taken pressure off Dylan. That may be right. I don’t know that the AFL told us to go public, if that’s true, that’s news to me. I didn’t know that part, but that’s not my job. My job is to coach the football team and to support the players. So, our other people within our organisation, they handled that side of things, and I think, according to Dylan, he’s very pleased with what the club has done behind the scenes to support him, and what’s been, you know, he made a mistake, and he didn’t handle that situation very well at the time. But since then, he’s been first class, and I think he’s very, very happy with how the club has handled it since then.”
Wilson: “Hasn’t he been under pressure, though, Sam? I mean, as the weeks went on, as November turned into December, January, February, my understanding is, when there was a meeting, whenever media arrived at the club, they would have been worried, Dylan and Connor, about whether it was going to come out, and was that pressure building? Do you think? And could it have had some bearing on his form in Opening Round? For example, did you wonder that yourself?”
Mitchell: “No, I don’t think so. I mean, I think what happens as people, we make decisions in our lives and then those consequences come back to us, and they made an error of judgement at that time and what happened afterwards, you know, we’re very, very clear that the standard of behaviour that the boys showed on that night, that was going to come back to bite them, and that was not ideal, and that’s not to the standards we expected our football club. We will support them in every way we can, but we don’t deny that there was wrongdoing involved, and making sure that they’re supported in the best way they can, which we feel like we’ve done, and they feel like we’ve done is the best we can do.”
Wilson: One more for me, on this, so that night, is it right that you were talking to them just before this happened, or a couple of hours before when the players were at dinner?”
Mitchell: “Yes.”
Wilson: “And what state were they in then? I mean, was there any indication, then, that what this was about to happen?”
Mitchell: “I mean, it’s November, and you’ve got a group of players together having dinner, so, you know, this is their private time. You know, hindsight’s a beautiful thing. I would love, in hindsight, to have said, just make sure you take it easy and get yourself home safely. I might have said that. I don’t even remember. You get a lot of phone calls in the off season from players who are just wanting to have a chat, and that was one of them, but I didn’t know what was going to happen, obviously.”
The Agenda Setters – 7.30pm every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night on 7mate and 7plus Sport.
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The Agenda Setters on Channel 7 has Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell addressing players arrest vision
