In the coaches' votes of the game each team's coach gives votes 1-5 with most votes for best.

Scott Pendlebury got 10 votes, Mitchell, Jeremy Howe and Adam Treloar all five votes. One player - Steele Sidebottom got one vote - so it is clear one coach rated Mitchell second-best on ground and one rated him third-best.

The coaches' votes are interesting because they also reflect the discussions that were held in each team's box on the night.

Nathan Buckley was asked after the match why he didn't lock down on Mitchell when Collingwood were six goals down and Mitchell had already had the ball 14 times.

Buckley said Mitchell was not hurting his team as much as the numbers might suggest, and backed his midfield to prevail.

"It was pretty ballsy to say he wasn't having an influence at that point in time, because I think he was," Clarkson said, bristling at the perceived slight on his player.

Clarkson was right, Mitchell was influential. With Liam Shiels in the first quarter they denied Collingwood the ball.

But Buckley was right, too. Mitchell was amassing possessions but not necessarily cutting Collingwood open and the Magpie midfielders needed to prevail offensively if they were to win.

"I think there's more dangerous players to worry about but when you are down 30 points at half-time and he has had 25 then you would have to look at it," said Tony Shaw, former Collingwood captain and coach.

"Clarko picked it well. You are five or six goals down at half-time and the bloke has had it 25 times, you have to ask the question [do you tag him?].

"If Sam Mitchell or Jordan Lewis were still at the club you would tag them, I have always believed you have to tag Sam Mitchell because he hurts you so much. I don't think Tom Mitchell is as good an architect as Sam Mitchell.

"Today's game allows you to get the ball in different ways previously you never got possessions going backwards. He knows how to play but he does not hurt you by foot like a Sam Mitchell."

Collingwood chose not to tag Mitchell as the margin grew, evidently because a tagger might stem the bleeding but it would be unlikely to win them the game.

To win the game Collingwood needed to take the game on with offensive runs and daring, not to add a defender in the midfield.

John Longmire, Mitchell's former coach, said on Monday the onballer was "as good as there is" at finding the ball and so a tag could be a waste.

"I reckon if there was one football left in the world and you employed Tom Mitchell to go and find it, he'd find it," Longmire said.

"It could be in a cave in the middle of the jungle somewhere and he'd be able to find it.

"It's not as if you can sit on him on the outside and stop that, because he's actually good at winning the 50-50 balls."

Shaw pointed out that in metres gained - a relatively new statistic that measures how far a player advances the ball down the ground - Mitchell had less impact than many other players.

Mitchell - and Hawthorn's problem - in the game as that the wingers Isaac Smith and Billy Hartung, and the half backs Shaun Burgoyne and Luke Hodge - gave them less outside run than they needed.

Buckley made it clear on Monday he thought Mitchell's game was amazing, but praised his own midfielders for winning the Magpies the game.