Sam Mitchell is usually reluctant to use the war analogy.<\/p>\n
But he will in the instance of Hawthorn\u2019s epic comeback win over Geelong by a single point on Easter Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not usually big on the war analogy, but it felt like that,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Jack Gunston was a major concern during the third quarter when he clutched at his right hamstring at the end of a lead.<\/p>\n
The experienced goal guru stayed on and would later be the hero, with a highlight minor score to scrape the Hawks in front.<\/p>\n
The other concern was captain James Sicily, who went into the rooms with \u201ca stinger\u201d and returned to take a matchwinning intercept mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we had at least three, both debutants came off with the blood rule, we had at least one more,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of those games, the fans who came along to that \u2026 people come out because they want to see a game just like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though perhaps the skills weren\u2019t as nice as we would\u2019ve liked as coaches, but that was a game you needed to lean on everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will all sleep pretty well tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
As important as Sicily is to this side, the loss of Gunston could have been a sledgehammer blow to Hawthorn\u2019s premiership push.<\/p>\n
Mitchell, showing the margins of football in his spirits post game, happily joked about how concerned he was for his seasoned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t look great, did it? I saw him lead out and I saw him grab the hammy, I was thinking, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s not ideal\u2019,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started doing our contingency and he stayed out there \u2026 they got him off and said he was fine, he came back on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t had a full medical update but the fact he came back on, I guess, having done a couple of hammies before, it\u2019s pretty unlikely he\u2019s actually done that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t know more for a couple of days, I imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n