BERNIE Vince could be the player to run-with star Hawk Tom Mitchell, when Melbourne takes on Hawthorn at the MCG on Sunday.

Coach Simon Goodwin confirmed at his weekly media conference on Thursday that Vince was right in the frame to tag Mitchell, who has amassed a whopping 136 disposals in three matches this year.

“He (Vince) is [in the mix for the role], because of his ability to do the job,” he said.

“He’s someone that we trust highly, so he’s certainly someone that we’ll look at.

Goodwin said Mitchell was someone “we’ll certainly put some time into”.

“He’s had three outstanding games, so he’s been a big part of our week and [we’ve] been looking at him, and we’ve been looking at how they (Hawthorn) play, so we’ll definitely be putting some time into him,” he said.

“They’re (Hawthorn) in terrific form. Hawthorn is back playing the footy that we know they can play.”

“Their small forwards are putting on a lot of pressure and their midfield is really strong, and Tom Mitchell is someone that’s in tremendous form.”

Meanwhile, Goodwin said co-captain Jack Viney and key forward Tom McDonald were “moving really well and progressing along nicely”.

“They’re on a similar timeframe and we want to get them back doing a few weeks of full training before we actually consider them to play any footy,” he said.

“From a timeline, we’re still looking at six weeks from now to get them back out there and playing AFL footy.”

Goodwin said he was delighted with the performance of recruit Harley Balic, who booted six goals in his first VFL appearance last weekend.

“It was great for Harley, coming to a new club and settling into a new environment,” he said.

“To play VFL footy and kick six goals is a really strong achievement.”