Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell makes honest admission about meeting with West Coast captain Oscar Allen

7NEWS

2 days ago

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has admitted his much-publicised meeting with West Coast captain Oscar Allen didn't play out the way he thought it would.
Allen, who qualifies as a free agent, came under heavy fire earlier this season after it was revealed he had met with Mitchell.
The fallout from that meeting — combined with Allen's on-field struggles — led to a downfall in his mental health.
The 26-year-old was granted a few days away from the club and missed the Good Friday clash against Essendon.
Allen returned to the side and played in an unfamiliar role down back as he looked to rediscover his best form.
But he has made a strong impact up forward the past three weeks, kicking eight goals, including four against Geelong on Sunday.
Mitchell was originally coy about the meeting when he first spoke about it in the aftermath, but was more expansive on The Agenda Setters on Tuesday night.
He was directly by Caroline Wilson if he felt bad about his role in the meeting.
'It didn't certainly play out the way we thought it would or that I would have liked it to,' Mitchell said.
'It put a lot of pressure on Oscar so that was certainly not the intention.
'The amount of pressure that came onto him out of that, I didn't think was appropriate for what was actually happening.
'Those things (meetings) will continue to happen and they'll be happening across the league right now, but there hasn't been a story that's matched that has there.'
But he was happy to see Allen smiling after playing his best game of the season against the Cats.
'That's the first time I've seen that footage of his big smile and it's great to see that,' he continued.
'You want to see players enjoying their footy and it certainly looks like he is.'
Mitchell wouldn't confirm or deny if the interest in Allen was still there, offering a very neutral response.
'I'm not going to tell you who we are keen on, but there's a lot of players out there that would help us,' he added.