SAM Mitchell will inhale every last piece of intelligence he can from his experience of representing Victoria in the Hall of Fame game this week.

And for the first-year Hawthorn skipper, who also happens to be leading The Age Footballer of the Year award, the days leading up to the exhibition match will be more valuable than the two or so hours he will spend on the MCG playing with the likes of Brownlow medallist midfielders Jimmy Bartel and Chris Judd.

"But no one's going to see that stuff," Mitchell, 25, said yesterday.

"Most of it will be behind closed doors. But I'm looking forward to that just as much as I am to the game. The two hours is obviously the performance side of it, but the preparation and almost the social component of it will be just as entertaining and just as educational for us as players."

By us, Mitchell meant Hawthorn, which has six representatives in the Victorian and Dream Team squads. It was the nomination of Jarryd Roughead, who has typically taken the back seat to the almost daily headline-grabbing Lance Franklin, that most pleased Mitchell.

"It's going to be great for him to just watch the way someone like Jonathan Brown goes about his business because obviously we'd love Roughy to end up being in the same class as big Jonathan Brown," he said.

"I think it's great reward for someone like that to get into the squad and hopefully he (Roughead) can play … and contribute and mix it with some of the other big boys."

Campbell Brown, Trent Croad and Brad Sewell also provided their club with healthy representation. Luke Hodge and Chance Bateman had to pass due to injury.

Still, by week's end, Mitchell believes Hawthorn should be better placed to match it with fellow unbeaten side Geelong — which it is still 11 weeks away from meeting.

Given that nearly half of the Victorian squad of 30 is a Hawthorn or Geelong player, this Saturday night is the next best thing to their home-and-away clash.

Or, in Mitchell's mind, as a reconnaissance exercise it could be even better — "because you're on more of an intimate, personal level (with the players) and with an opposition coach which will be really interesting."

The opportunity to gain an insight into the practices of Cats coach Mark Thompson is unique.

"I'm sure he'll be holding his tongue on a few things that he would be saying within the Geelong rooms," Mitchell said, "but by the same token he's going to be trying to win the game and … if you can suck anything out of him and the way Geelong goes about it, maybe can find a chink in that armour of theirs …

"We'll be trying to find out what Geelong and the Bulldogs and all the other clubs are doing. But by the same token, they're probably going to be trying to figure out what we're doing as well. So I'm sure there will (be) a little bit of a chess game going on in the team meetings."

If there is one player in the talent-rich Victorian squad that Mitchell most wants to study up close, he is not letting on.

"As a footy fan, I'm the same as everyone else," he said. "I'd love to see the way Adam Goodes goes about it, Jonathan Brown, Chris Judd, all the same people that the general public want to see train and would love to meet."

The access all-areas pass will not be wasted on the earnest Hawks skipper, who will note with interest which players are relaxed and joking in the rooms before the match and which ones position themselves in the corner and use earphones to block themselves off from the world.

"All of those little things, I think that I'll find that stuff pretty interesting, just the way different guys prepare for what's ahead."

Mitchell baulked at a query about how he was enjoying being an AFL captain. And, in fairness, the message from the Victorian team's communications man was that, according to a directive from clubs, players could do any media interview this week as long as the focus was promoting the Hall of Fame game.

But Mitchell's answer to a question about what part of this week he was most looking forward to said plenty.

There are five AFL captains in the Victorian squad and five in the Dream Team's. Mitchell will be watching them more than any midfielder.

"That's probably the key part for myself — just seeing how some of the other talent goes about their business," he said.

"Being a leader of a footy club does bring its challenges, which are more new to me.

"If you're going to become very good at whatever you do, whether you're a doctor or you're a journalist or you're a footballer, I think that ability to want to learn all the time has got to be there, otherwise you're only ever get to be good and not great."