PREMIERSHIP West Coast assistant Sam Mitchell will link up with his old club Hawthorn next season, confirming long-held suspicions.

The Hawks champion was lured to WA in 2017 on a four-year deal which saw him play one season then transition to become the Eagles midfield coach.

His impact off the field was immediate, with a number of premiership players singling him out for praise following last week’s victory over Collingwood, however his time has been limited since July when he informed the Eagles he wanted to return to Victoria with two years remaining on his agreement.
The Hawks have long loomed as his likely destination and on Friday his manager Peter Lenton confirmed the news despite having yet to sign off on his release from West Coast.

“I’m comfortable to say he’ll be at Hawthorn next year,” Lenton told Trade Radio.

“It’s not ideal obviously given that there was a four-year commitment once he left Hawthorn to go to West Coast but his set of circumstances has meant that he will return home and that he will go to Hawthorn.

“There is a contract, so the club that is holding the contract that is West Coast, they’ve got every right to hold Sam to the contract. But common sense typically prevails with this.

“From the conversations I’ve had with (football manager) Craig Vozzo there will be a release, it’s just a matter now of going through the administration.”

While Mitchell could well be groomed as a successor to master coach Alastair Clarkson at the Hawks, Lenton said there was no guarantee written into his new deal.

“It would be lovely to think that he might be a senior coach one day and that’s certainly what he’d be striving for, but not there’s no clauses to that effect,” he said.