“Eyeball conversations”: Hawthorn address overseas arrests

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell addressed Dylan Moore and Connor Macdonald's overseas arrests in the off-season on Wednesday morning.

The coach said "eyeball conversations" were had with the pair in the immediate aftermath, but the club has since moved forward.

"Our first conversations were ‘how can we help, what do we need to do here?' because they're halfway across the world and not in a position they want to be in and not sure what the protocols are and who we need to talk to and how we need to help them in that moment," Mitchell said.

"Once a little bit of the original dust settles, we had a couple of eyeball conversations about standards of behaviour and expectations. Once those were understood, it was pretty clear, it's not like this is a lingering thing for us.

"You (the media) are where we were four months ago (thinking) ‘this is enormously disappointing' and we were there, but now we've moved on."

Moore and Macdonald spent a night in jail in USA in the off-season after being arrested for trespassing and they will front a US court in the coming months, likely via video link.

General Manager of Football Robert McCartney indicated it was a collective decision to remove Moore as vice captain as his behaviour in the moment didn't display the necessary leadership.

The 26-year-old, however, accepted responsibility when addressing the playing group.

"The playing group and Sam today came together and they had a conversation and Dylan, as a leader. has owned that in front of Connor," McCartney said.

"He totally understands that he was the person in the situation who could have shown and proven the leadership he had developed and and he didn't so that conversation happened this morning."

McCartney added that there was never a thought of suspending either player, with the financial and community service penalties, as well as Moore's removal of leadership deemed fair. 

He would not be drawn on if and when either player could be added into the leadership group in the future.

"They were significantly remorseful and what they will do now is show, in time, what they have learned from this experience and how they can be better young men and I'm really confident these two will be better young men in the future," McCartney said.