Sam Mitchell is usually reluctant to use the war analogy.

But he will in the instance of Hawthorn’s epic comeback win over Geelong by a single point on Easter Monday.

“I am not usually big on the war analogy, but it felt like that,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell is alluding to the three cuts and two potentially derailing injury concerns the Hawks weathered to overtake the Cats inside the final minute of the game.

Jack Gunston was a major concern during the third quarter when he clutched at his right hamstring at the end of a lead.

The experienced goal guru stayed on and would later be the hero, with a highlight minor score to scrape the Hawks in front.

The other concern was captain James Sicily, who went into the rooms with “a stinger” and returned to take a matchwinning intercept mark.

“I think we had at least three, both debutants came off with the blood rule, we had at least one more,” Mitchell said.

“It was one of those games, the fans who came along to that … people come out because they want to see a game just like that.

“Even though perhaps the skills weren’t as nice as we would’ve liked as coaches, but that was a game you needed to lean on everything.

“When you win a game by a point a lot has to go right and all of the resilience of every player, every staff member goes into winning it.

“We will all sleep pretty well tonight.”

As important as Sicily is to this side, the loss of Gunston could have been a sledgehammer blow to Hawthorn’s premiership push.

Mitchell, showing the margins of football in his spirits post game, happily joked about how concerned he was for his seasoned forward.

“It didn’t look great, did it? I saw him lead out and I saw him grab the hammy, I was thinking, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal’,” Mitchell said.

“We started doing our contingency and he stayed out there … they got him off and said he was fine, he came back on.

“We haven’t had a full medical update but the fact he came back on, I guess, having done a couple of hammies before, it’s pretty unlikely he’s actually done that.

“We won’t know more for a couple of days, I imagine.”

Originally published as AFL 2026: Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell unpacks the Easter Monday epic