Hawthorn head to the MCG on Thursday night against the Carlton Blues expecting another tough encounter in experienced rebounding defender Jarman Impey's 200th game at AFL level.
Mitchell spoke glowingly of Impey who is renowned as one of the heart and soul players at Hawthorn, having grown up a Hawks supporter.
"You're not meant to have favourites, but if you did he would certainly be in that conversation."
"Anyone who has spent time at Bunjil Bagora, would just know he is one of the players that you love having out here on the track. He's a great player and we have seen what he has done so consistently for such a long period for us now.
"Off the field, he has an enormous influence on our group and he really rounds out our group.
"He makes everyone else around him better."
The Hawks head into the big blockbuster clash against the Blues off a short six-day break, with most of the week spent on recovering after a tough clash against the Bombers.
The Hawks have lost experienced defender Jack Scrimshaw for the Thursday night encounter, and head coach Sam Mitchell has options at his disposal to replace a key component of the backline.
Jack Gunston, Changkuoth Jiath and Jai Serong were all part of the Box Hill Hawks impressive VFL win at the Hangar last week, and with all training strongly at today's main session, will be putting their hand up for selection in match committee.
"There was obviously a pretty good performance at Box Hill on the weekend as well, so there's a few players putting their hand up", Mitchell said.
"We certainly need to replace Scrimma, he's been an important player for us, really consistent, in particular his last 18 months, so disappointed for him that we'll miss him."
Having played in the first two rounds of the seasons, Mitchell spoke about wanting to take the best out of both games to give them the best opportunity to get the win on Thursday night.
"Like every coach, you want utopia. We realise we are still a work in progress in getting our game right, like every coach does this time of year," Mitchell said.
"We feel like we've played some parts of our game really strong but not consistently enough and being able to manage momentum has been important for us so far and will continue to be."
After losing the contested possession, tackle and clearance count on Friday night against the Bombers, Mitchell knows that the team will need to improve in that area to combat a tough Carlton side.
"We can't afford to lose contests, clearance and tackles the way we did on the weekend. You won't win too many games with some of the numbers we saw. The players are pretty clear on what's going to be needed on Thursday night," Mitchell said.
The Hawks spent time during the session at Bunjil Bagora, working on their tackling, after making only 58% of tackles attempted against the Bombers, knowing that a midfield of Cripps, Cerra and Walsh will exploit poor tackling techniques.
Mitchell spoke about Finn Maginness and his importance to the forward line, as the Hawks look to nullify the likes of Jacob Weitering and Mitch McGovern.
"The thing with Finn is that he is capable of playing so many roles. It doesn't matter his own statistics, he is happy to just do a role for the team," Mitchell said.
"Finn's work rate in the front half of the ground in particular has been important for us and we also know that he can go and shut someone down when we need to, which did a couple of times on the weekend."
Mitchell spoke about the role that young defender Josh Weddle has been playing for the team this year, with an emphasis on his defensive work rather than his counter attacking prowess.
"We've been restricting scores pretty well and he's been pretty good defensively," Mitchell said.
"We love him jumping and bouncing, but that's not the core of what he is in the team for. He is obviously a defender first, and he has been pretty good defensively the first two rounds."
With another large crowd expected on Thursday evening, Mitchell spoke about the support that the fans have given the team.
"I'm really proud of the Hawthorn fans, who have come out since I started," Mitchell reflected.
"When we weren't expected to do so well, I was buoyed by the fact that the fans believed in what we were doing and on the journey with us.
"They're turning up now and feeling good about what we are producing. Our job is to live up to our own fans and our expectations internally."
The Hawks look to make it three wins on the trot for the first time since 2014 and start their season off undefeated in the Thursday night clash that kicks off Round 2 of the 2025 season.
