Injured Lions fan, 6, taken to hospital after being hit by can as Sam Mitchell condemns unruly Hawks fans

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has condemned unruly Hawks fans and his own leaders James Sicily and Tom Barrass after the dramatic finish to Saturday night’s preliminary final loss to Brisbane.

Sicily and Barrass were fined by the AFL for confronting the umpires, who were targeted as they left the MCG by some angry supporters as bottles and cans rained down on the field.

One six-year-old Lions supporter was hit by a full can thrown after the siren and ended up in hospital to receive stitches, Channel 7’s Tom Morris reported.

Another young fan who had taken part in the Auskick half-time game had nachos thrown over him by a Hawks supporter.

“The AFL said that if they find and can identify any of the fans who threw bottles onto the ground they’ll ban them for five years minimum,” 7NEWS reporter Xander McGuire said on Triple M.

“I mean, they’d have to ban half the stadium. I was on the fence and I had chips bouncing off my shoulder and drinks sploshing.”

Reflecting on Monday morning, Mitchell said he had noticed “there was a fair bit happening” and urged his players in an impromptu huddle to “act with humility”.

“You would’ve seen after that we walked off and gave a clap to some of the people who were still there,” he told SEN.

“Obviously some of the things that we’ve found out since, there was a very small portion of those fans who didn’t act appropriately, which has sort of soured what was probably one of the greatest games of all time.

“Disappointing that a few fans decided to throw things and not act appropriately. That was a bit disappointing.”

But Mitchell confirmed that at the time he had not been aware Sicily and Barrass had teed off at umpire Hayden Meyer in the chaos of the Jarman Impey free kick, Hugh McCluggage goal and final siren.

“I must admit I didn’t see that at all. I hadn’t seen that or heard about that at all. I just saw on the ground there was a lot of debris,” the coach said.

“I hadn’t seen any of that (with the players). I assumed that was all happening while we were coming back down from the coaches box. I wasn’t across that.

“I read a story about a young eight-year-old who had nachos thrown at them at the footy.