Assistant coach Adrian Fletcher said the Lions match committee was still tossing up whether to run with Mitchell or one of the Hawks' outside players.
Hawthorn is coming off a loss against Collingwood but sits fourth with a 10-4 record and has picked teams apart with its high-possession style this season.
Mitchell is one of the form players of the competition, averaging 36 disposals per match over his last five and topping 30 in nine of his 13 matches.
He is second in overall disposals and first in uncontested possessions in the competition.
"Anyone who gets it 32 or 34 times, you have to respect the guy and we do, no doubt in the world," Fletcher said.
"He gets their game going; their outside runners feed off him. You can stop it at the source or stop it outside, so it's up to us to stop it at the source.
"Every team's got one and they make other guys look good."
Fletcher said it was hard to tag the 'inside' players as they often got their possessions in congestion, although Mitchell has got plenty on the outside this season.
He said the Lions may back their own hard-ball winners to do the job and believed the match-up between Mitchell and Simon Black would be one worth watching.
Black is having an underrated, yet typically prolific, season.
He is fifth in the competition in disposals, 10th in contested possessions and has topped 30 touches in his past four matches away from the Gabba.
Fletcher described the Hawthorn midfield as elite and said the Lions would have to take more advantage of the ruck work of Matthew Leuenberger, who is second in the competition for hit-outs.
"I'm sure they'll be trying to shark our taps sometimes; it's an opportunity for us to get hit-outs to advantage.
"We're playing a top-four side and it gives us an opportunity to compete against a team that will play finals this year."
Hawthorn won last season's match at Aurora Stadium by 75 points, but the Lions have to only look to 2009 to recall their last victory on the Tasmanian ground when they were victorious by 45 points.
