Sam Mitchell's wife praised for 'amazing' act as Hawks coach's return date revealed
Hawthorn's coach was taken to hospital after being struck down with a serious bout of pneumonia in New York.
The wife of stricken Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has been hailed for her response to the 41-year-old's nasty health scare while holidaying in New York. Mitchell was absent when the Hawks playing group resumed their AFL pre-season training on Wednesday, but is expected back on Monday after being struck down with a serious bout of pneumonia while on holidays with his family in New York.
The 41-year-old was taken to hospital in December and spent Christmas Day there, before being discharged before the new year. Mitchell has remained in New York to continue his recovery but will fly back home in the coming days when he's deemed well enough to travel.
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Hawthorn's GM of Football Rob McCartney confirmed plans for the coach to return for pre-season training on Monday and provided an update on Mitchell's progress after speaking to the 41-year-old on Wednesday. McCartney revealed that Mitchell's wife Lyndall had done an "amazing" job providing care for her husband and said the club had also put measures in place to ensure his recovery goes as smoothly as possible.
“I actually spoke with him as the boys were training today - he’s going well, the vibrance is back in his voice,” McCartney said. “He’s definitely on the improve, and part of that is making sure that he does get that time to recover and be that person he was before Christmas when he left.
“We were concerned obviously because he was in a foreign country, we couldn’t provide the same level of support we probably could if he was here in Melbourne. We were really lucky that we’ve got a current board member in Anne-Marie Pellizzer and a former board member in Andrew Kaye who played quite a significant role in mobilising the right support on the ground in New York, so we were comfortable once we had those things in place.
“His wife Lyndall did an amazing job in caring for Sam while he was in hospital, but while also managing three kids over in New York. We want to make sure that we continue to provide that great care that Lyndall did when he was away, when he gets back.”
Sam Mitchell to be eased back into coaching duties
Hawthorn revealed earlier in the week that Mitchell would be eased back into the head-coaching role when he returns. McCartney says a "phased return" for Mitchell was based on advice from medical professionals who've been treating the coach, as well as Hawthorn's own club doctors.
“We expect him to be back in our program early on Monday, he won’t spend full weeks in our program initially when he gets back,” McCartney added. “When we get a line of sight and an eye on Sam we’ll have a bit better of an indication as to where he is at.
“He was really unwell there for a few days, obviously in hospital during that Christmas period, so we’re just ensuring that we take a phased approach with him coming back. We want him at 100 per cent fitness as quickly as possible instead of maybe coming back a little bit early and doing a little too much and having that linger for a while.”
Mitchell won four premierships with the Hawks as a player, and finished his 329-game playing career with West Coast in 2017. He took over as head coach of Hawthorn from Alastair Clarkson in 2022, and has so far led the Hawks to 15 wins in 45 games in two seasons in charge.
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