Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has described his meeting with Oscar Allen becoming public as “not ideal” after the West Coast co-captain was subjected to intense scrutiny.

Speaking for the first time since his catch-up with Allen in Perth was exposed, Mitchell attempted to quickly shut down questions.

He addressed one question about Allen in some detail, before giving two answers simply of “yes”.

“I mean not ideal the public conversation and debate around it and putting that on Oscar’s plate was far from ideal, and certainly not the intention,” Mitchell said before Hawthorn’s training session on Friday.

“That’s the first part of it and hopefully that stays out of the media for now.

“Having said that, I think anyone entering for free agency it’s the nature of the game now.

“He (Allen) still might stay at the club, but that happens a fair bit as well.

“That’s the nature of the game we’re in now.”

When asked if he believed Allen was open to joining the Hawks, Mitchell replied: “I’m not going to add anymore fuel to that fire”.

Mitchell said he agreed with Hawthorn captain James Sicily’s view the backlash to the meeting was a “storm in a teacup”.

The 42-year-old, who spent time at West Coast as a player and then as an assistant coach, also admitted he felt sorry for Allen by how it had panned out.

Mitchell managed to convince Eagles premiership Tom Barrass to move to the Hawks during the last off-season as Hawthorn re-emerge as a serious premiership threat.

Out-of-contract at season’s end, Allen’s position as leader came under question after sitting down with Mitchell.

Days after news broke, the 26-year-old fronted a press conference alongside West Coast football boss John Worsfold to say he was “remorseful” for his actions and also described feeling “ashamed” and “embarrassed”.

Allen, who has been below his best this season for winless West Coast, has been backed by the club and Eagles players to continue as co-captain partnering Liam Duggan.

The key forward and one of the AFL’s most in-demand free agents had already met with reigning premiers Brisbane to discuss his future.

The Lions, who had 12 months warning of Joe Daniher’s shock post-grand final retirement, have long had Allen in mind to be the new key of their forward line.

Hawthorn trained at their Waverley Park headquarters on Friday, before travelling on Saturday for Sunday night’s Gather Round grudge match against Port Adelaide.

The Hawks will need to cover the long-term absence of Will Day, who has undergone foot surgery.

“They’ll wait and see how it settles, there’ll be ongoing scans and management and he’ll start to weight bear in probably three weeks,” Mitchell said of Day.

“Three-to-four months is about as accurate as they can tell me.”