Football legend Leigh Matthews reckons Hawthorn's current crop of players must win another premiership to earn the right to be compared to the club's decorated teams of the late 1980s, as veteran Sam Mitchell confirmed his personal ambition for them to be acknowledged among the best teams of all time.

Matthews built on his lofty reputation as a player by winning four premierships as a coach. The last three came in consecutive years from 2001 at the helm of the Brisbane Lions, a feat equalled by the Hawks on Saturday.

While he hailed Hawthorn, where he played, he reaffirmed his preference for the team that won premierships in 1983, '86, '88, '89 and '91.

"They're a mighty football club, with a mighty team representing them. They're an outstanding organisation," Matthews told AFL Game Day, before explaining his preference for their predecessors.

"Getting to seven grand finals in a row ... was a superlative effort. I think you've got to have a bit more longevity yet, the current Hawthorn team, to even match the Hawthorn team of the late '80s."

Matthews signalled he was perplexed that so many coaches refuse to tag Mitchell, who again thrived on Saturday and finished as the runner-up to Cyril Rioli in the Norm Smith Medal.

"They just get destroyed with that attitude," Matthews argued.

The key to more success will be the Hawks' core group of seven four-time premiership players – captain Luke Hodge, Grant Birchall, Shaun Burgoyne, Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell,  Cyril Rioli and Jarryd Roughead.

Keep them together, fit and healthy and they are the sun at the centre of the Hawthorn universe.

"I'm a great believer that the footy gods actually determine a lot of things that are going to happen in a game," Matthews said.

"I reckon Hawthorn have a few footy gods playing for them and Hodge is one of them."

But Hodge, Mitchell and Burgoyne are over 30 – the acknowledged tipping point of an AFL player's career – and Lewis will join them next year.

Mitchell said on Sunday that he and his teammates had not discussed their specific ambitions for next season because they were savouring winning their third premiership.

"You can't rest on your laurels. We've got to get back to work soon – but not yet," Mitchell said.

"Everyone asked which one is your favourite premiership. My answer is always 'the next one'. Next year is certainly what I'm aiming for as an individual, but as a group we haven't sat down, Clarko [coach Alastair Clarkson] hasn't spoken to us. The extent of Clarko's speech was a swear-word that ended in 'bewdy'.

"We will sit down and do a bit of a review of the season and of the game and look at what the future holds for us, and I'm sure it's going to be more silverware."

Asked about the prospect of being rated as one of the best teams of all time, or even the best, Mitchell said that "the fact it's still [in] question makes you want to go again".

"We haven't spoken of it as a group, but I certainly want to be thought of in those lines," he said.

Mitchell criticised the media focus on the playing futures of out-of-contract duo Brian Lake and David Hale.

Lake, 33, has declared he wants to play again. Hale, 31, has been mostly equivocal about his plans for 2016 since the premiership victory, although at the club's premiership celebration day on Sunday at Glenferrie Oval he said "I like running, so I'll keep going".

"I find it quite frustrating that you guys want to keep talking about it," Mitchell said, specifically about Hale. "If he decides his future he'll decide it and you guys won't. I just think let him go about his business."

With aap