By Nic Negrepontis
Publication Date: 2026-02-13 00:32:00
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell responded to the criticism he received after it was revealed he and the club had used artificial intelligence to gain an edge in pre-season.
The 2012 Brownlow Medalist said earlier this week that he uses it daily to help with various tasks around the club, including opposition analysis, coaching trends and even how best to communicate with the playing group.
AFL journalist Mitch Cleary, who broke the story, even described it as Mitchell’s “new obsession”.
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Sam Mitchell. AFL photos via Getty Images
“I had an important conversation with an upcoming player and wanted to discuss a few things in his game and I just asked him (AI) questions: ‘How could I phrase this question to make sure he feels that…’