Tom Mitchell knows he will struggle to convince people outside Hawthorn that he is fortunate with his AFL lot.
While the star onballer is enjoying a great first season at his new club, the Hawks have fallen off the cliff.
Hawthorn are second-last, they have lost their last two games and their first assignment coming out of the bye is the ladder-leading Crows on Thursday night at Adelaide Oval.
Mitchell is surely leading their best and fairest voting - a rare highlight in a brutal season for the power club of the past decade.
This year was always going to be a step into the unknown for the Hawks, given stars Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis had left.
They brought in Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O'Meara to bolster their midfield, but O'Meara has struggled again with knee problems.
Veteran defender Josh Gibson is definitely in his last season, spiritual leader Luke Hodge is probably the same and Shaun Burgoyne has another year left in him at best.
The only key off-field figure still at the club from a year ago is legendary coach Alastair Clarkson - the president, chief executive and football manager have all changed.
And given how their draft picks stand, the Hawks will need to manufacture something impressive to bolster their recruiting prospects later this year.
But Mitchell has no doubts the Hawks will find a way.
"I'm definitely enjoying it - it's a great club to be a part of and a great culture," the former Sydney player said.
"I'm very fortunate to be in the position that I'm in ... I can understand why there would be some conjecture about that, just with the results.
"But I'm sure that with Clarko leading the way, and guys like Hodgey and Roughy (captain Jarryd Roughead) and the great leaders we have, that we're on the right track."
Mitchell is similarly upbeat about taking on the Crows, despite the difficulty of Thursday's assignment.
In round 11, the Hawks took an inexperienced side to Adelaide Oval and Port Adelaide easily beat them by 51 points.
"What better way to (start) the second half of the year, against the team that's on top of the ladder ... and see how we go," he said.
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