While the Hawks are coming off an impressive upset win over St Kilda, they will start at long odds on Saturday at Adelaide Oval against a Power side that has rocketed into premiership conversations by winning eight in a row.
Hawthorn skipper James Sicily played a complete game in defence against the Saints but will miss out because of a one-game suspension for high contact.
Despite all that, Mitchell is looking forward to the clash.
"I would buy a ticket to this game. It's going to be quite exciting," he said.
"They've got a very young and enthusiastic and highly touted midfield, and our midfield has really come along this year ... I hope we can perform well."
The Hawks belted injury-ravaged West Coast before the St Kilda boilover and Mitchell spoke of his rebuilding team's progression and work ethic.
On-field leadership is another area where Mitchell sees encouraging progress and Luke Breust will be acting captain in Sicily's absence.
It's understood to be the first time the three-time premiership forward will captain the team in his 270-game AFL career.
"I had a really good conversation today with James Sicily, Dylan Moore and Luke Breust around leadership for this weekend," he said.
"We're going to have a new captain and how are we going to handle this? How do we want to do it?
"Just listening to them talk ... I was so proud of the conversation they had, their openness and how they thought about what the team needs.
"They've led really well on the field ... and it's going to be important to have that player leadership this weekend."
Clearly, Sicily cannot be replaced - but Mitchell is confident Hawthorn's defence can re-adjust.
He also joked that his captain was being a pain after his best-afield performance and could do with the enforced break.
"We have five players on the (white) board we could potentially replace him with, whether it's a like-for-like type, whether we move someone else's role or whether we change the mix of the team and play a little bit smaller, for example," Mitchell said.
"Losing Sic after his game last week isn't ideal - and he's been head-wobbling a little bit too long for us this week.
"But he's leading well and making sure we're well-prepared to play without him."
Sicily has a reputation as a hothead but Mitchell said the player's latest ban was more a case of the AFL's crackdown on high contact.
"James' suspensions a while ago were undisciplined - now it's sometimes wrong place, wrong time and you get things a little bit wrong in an instant," he said.
"We'll be OK back there without James but it will be a good challenge without him - they're going to have to pick up the slack."
30°C