Rival coach personally calls in-demand Saint on multiple occasions in free agency bid

Hawthorn's enthusiasm to tempt Josh Battle out of St Kilda extends to coach Sam Mitchell calling the player himself to convince him his future is at the Hawks.

Mitchell has had multiple phone conversations with Battle in recent times as the versatile Saint weighs up his playing future as an unrestricted free agent.

Battle, 25, still remains unsigned beyond this season, seemingly happy to wait and at least test the market before making a decision.

While Battle has left the Saints’ long-term offer on the table, he’s attracted a range of suitors as a reliable and versatile 193cm commodity. But Mitchell’s hands-on approach emphasises Hawthorn’s intent.

The Hawks coach has increasingly taken on a proactive role in the player movement space in what is, more broadly, a changing aspect of the game.

While list managers still do the majority of the wheeling and dealing, coaches are increasingly willing to sell the vision to potential recruits, sometimes months out from the trade period, in a bid to build relationships.

Alastair Clarkson, Damien Hardwick and Ross Lyon have also been proactive in this space down the years.

Mitchell’s desire to see Hawthorn improve since taking over in 2022 has seen him ring opposition clubs to spark interest in players the Hawks want to trade, fly to Perth to meet Lloyd Meek and show very strong interest in former Docker Lachie Schultz.

The Hawks have won six of their past seven games to improve to 7-7 and are clearly on track to achieve their best win-loss season of the Mitchell era.