“Safety blanket” Hawk to bring up milestone on Friday night

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell highlighted the selfless nature of milestone man Blake Hardwick ahead of his 200th game.

Speaking at his weekly press conference on Wednesday morning ahead of the Hawks' Friday night clash with Essendon, Mitchell indicated his leadership of the backline has been an important factor during his time at the helm. 

“He's a consistent high performer,” Mitchell said.

“He has a unique skillset - on the field, he's the loudest and best teammate out there. If you talk to players about who they love running out there next to, and he's the first one that will come up, not just for this team but for a generation really. 

“He's played every game since I've been coaching and he's a bit of a safety blanket for me. 

“Any concerns in the game - if we can't kick goals, ‘Blake, can you go forward and fix that?', if we can't stop goals ‘Blake, can you go and sort that out?' if there's a player on the opposition who is causing trouble ‘Blake can you go and sort that?'”

Hardwick has had some much-publicised battles with the best crumbing forwards in the game, establishing himself as one of the premier small lockdown defenders in the league.

He averages 12 disposals and 11 pressure acts per game, losing just one in five defensive one-on-one contests, while his willingness to help out and ensure the Hawks are well structured behind the footy has been a significant factor behind their September runs in the last two seasons.

“We watch a lot of boring versions of the game as coaches like behind the goals miles away and the one guy who is helping everyone else is always him,” Mitchell said.

“When he's off the ground in general, we'll be slightly more disorganised, he's the guy who sets everyone else up around him and when you have those guys out on the field as coach, you feel enormously confident in what your team can do.”

Mitchell also praised his toughness and durability.

“He's a real safety blanket for me and he's a very non-fuss player,” he said.

“He's had some nasty injuries but he's about as tough as they come and as good a teammate as there is in the league so I'm really proud that he gets to this point in his career.”