Sam Mitchell doesn’t waste time switching from player to coach after the siren sounds.

As his teammates drift into other parts of the change rooms at Domain Stadium or relax on the flight home from an interstate match, Mitchell is already immersing himself in coaching.

Shortly after leaving the field, he receives a USB drive from analyst Harry Garland filled with midfield vision from the match. Mitchell’s job is then to cut the vision he wants to show to a group of players and start preparing for the review and preview meetings he’ll be conducting.

It’s a unique role, but one which Mitchell has relished this season.

“The travel games are the easiest because you’ve got that four hours of down-time,” Mitchell said.

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“The middle part of the flight, you spend with the computer open like the other coaches. Depending on who you’re sitting next to, some of the players don’t mind looking over your shoulder and talking about what they’re looking at.

“But a fair few of the players are thinking, ‘This is the last place I want to be sitting — next to a bloke who is watching the game we just played’.”

Mitchell caught the coaching bug during his outstanding career at Hawthorn. The premiership captain in 2008, he was expected to be a constant on-field adviser for his teammates.

He completed the AFL’s level-two coaching course in 2010, followed by the AFL Coaching Association’s Next Coach program and is now partway through the level-three coaching course.

Camera Icon Sam Mitchell gets some help from the club’s top-notch sports science staff. Credit: AFL Media

Eagles coach Adam Simpson was part of the inaugural Next Coach program in 2009 and worked as an assistant in the TAC Cup while still playing for North Melbourne. Mitchell said knowing about Simpson’s background helped him to decide how he would start his own coaching pathway.

But AFL coaching is about more than just cutting vision and holding meetings. Nothing prepared him for when he was thrown into an active role in the coaches’ box against Collingwood in round 18 when he was rested.

“I was tasked with a certain area of the ground to watch. I had to watch my computer and watch that,” Mitchell said.

“If someone was having a shot at goal or there was an inside 50 or kick-out, that’s not my area so I didn’t need to watch it. But I found myself watching the game and that’s what you’re trying to avoid.

“You should be watching your computer and figuring out exactly what needs to happen, what the themes are, what the opposition are trying to do and what your own players are trying to do.

“You’re watching a computer, you’re half-watching a game and you’re listening to three or four conversations that are going on. That’s a lot of different stimuli and it took me a little while to find my bearings.”

While Mitchell’s stunning career has produced four premierships, a Brownlow Medal, five best and fairests and All-Australian selection three times, he said building relationships remained a key to success.

Switching clubs and having a dual role meant he had to bond with both teammates and coaches.

Mitchell said learning from the other assistants had been a crucial part of his development this season.

“The relationships side of things has been the key,” he said. “Adrian Hickmott is outstanding with his relationships with players. Halfway through the second quarter, when someone is having a flat game, he just knows the words (to say).

Camera Icon Mitchell at his best in the clinches in last Sunday’s win over Adelaide to seal a finals berth. Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images

“Rather than having a bad game, all they do is have a bad half because he’s able to talk to a guy and get him to come around and see things in a different manner.

“Justin Longmuir sees the game in such an outstanding way. He knows every stoppage set-up, watches so much vision and knows what every team does and what every team’s strengths and weaknesses are. Dean Cox is like Hick with his relationships with players.”

Mitchell believes more players will follow the path of combining playing and coaching as competition for positions within football departments increases.

But Mitchell knows he’s starting at the bottom in his attempt to become a successful coach. He is determined to be patient and do whatever it takes to succeed.

“I’ve got a whole lot to learn,” Mitchell said.

“I’m a long way away from having the capability of being a senior coach. I’m not in a rush. I’m willing to learn the lessons I need to learn and however long that takes, then so be it.”