With the festive season upon us, we’ve had a look at what's on our wish list ahead of the 2022 season.

It’s fair to say 2021 has been a ride mixed with challenges and excitement. But now with 2022 on the horizon, there’s a new wave of optimism, possibilities and opportunities heading Hawthorn’s way.

So, what are we – the fans – hoping to witness in the year ahead?

Here’s a list of 22 things we’re looking forward to in 2022!

1. Crowds back at games: It’s been a challenging past two years not having our fans in the stands to cheer us on like old times. Our people are the most important thing to us and we’re hoping the brown and gold faithful are keen get back among the action in 2022 – starting off with our Round 1 clash at the MCG against the Kangaroos.

2. Mitchell takeover: One of the most exciting changes on the agenda in 2022 is four-time premiership Hawk Sam Mitchell embarking on his first year as senior coach. In his short few months so far, Mitchell has already made several changes at Hawthorn and we can’t wait to see what he’ll bring to the field in 2022.

3. New coaches: With another four new faces joining Mitchell in 2022, we’re wishing for a fruitful year. Robert Harvey, Andy Collins, Adrian Hickmott and David Hale join familiar faces Chris Newman, Andy Otten and Damian Monkhorst as part of Hawthorn’s coaching panel next year. It’s an impressive line-up that we're eagerly awaiting to see in action.

4. More wins: While improvement was made in 2021, there is still plenty of progress to be had in 2022. Here’s hoping that spark from three wins in a row, and then a draw to close the 2021 season will continue to ignite the flame in 2022.

5. Duo comeback: After extended stints on the sidelines due to injuries, the entire Hawthorn fan base will be hoping to witness the return of James Sicily and Jack Gunston for our season opener. Slotting Sicily and Gunston into the Hawks side will make a huge difference given they played only a single combined game last year.

6. Sis’ leadership: Speaking of Sis, we can’t wait to see how his on-field leadership will also continue to develop in 2022. After spending a season spent under the wing of defensive coach Chris Newman while rehabbing a torn ACL, we're anticipating that Sis will bring a more prevalent voice to his team in 2022.

7. Debutants here, there, everywhere: After already impressing so far this pre-season, there is plenty of excitement around potentially seeing Josh Ward pull on a jumper this year. Ward, who won the first time trial of the 2022 pre-season, headlines a host of draftees including Sam Butler, Jai Serong, Connor MacDonald and Ned Long as well as category B rookie Fionn O'Hara. We’ll be hoping to witness the debuts of several of these exciting youngsters in the year ahead.

8. Refresh: It’s been well documented that Hawthorn has long averaged one of the oldest lists in the league. But following the departure of some veterans and the arrival of a crop of young draftees, we’ve now got some incredible, young talent on our list, mixed with a blend of star power.

9. Merry milestones: A milestone that we can hardly wait for this season is to see three of our veterans reach 250 games - two of which did it all in the brown and gold. Three-time premiership players Luke Breust and Liam Shiels currently have 239 and 242 outings in the brown and gold to their names respectively, while captain Ben McEvoy has 244.

10. Membership soar: After an incredible 2021 which saw 77,079 members commit to the brown and gold, we’re hoping the number keeps rising in 2022. With 50,000 members already putting their pen to paper prior to the new year, we’re confident we're on the right track to smashing the figure.

11. Hello, AFLW: Arguably one of the most exciting things on the 2022 calendar is the club's inaugural AFLW season. While the Hawks will officially join the competition in the latter part of next year, there is so much to look forward in between including player signings and determining a coaching panel that will be spearheaded by AFLW premiership coach Bec Goddard.

12. VFLW new look: With a new coach and hopefully a full season ahead, there is plenty to look forward to in the world of VFLW. New head coach Cherie O’Neill has taken over from now-AFLW coach Goddard. With an impressive football coaching resume to date, we can't wait to see what Cherie can produce in 2022.

13. A fit and firing CJ: After taking home Hawthorn's Most Promising Player this year, fans will be eagerly awaiting to see what Changkuoth Jiath can do this season. While he has shown plenty of promising signs to date, Jiath has a lot of growth left to go and we can’t wait to see how it unfolds.

14. Blockbuster match-ups: After a draw with reigning premiers Melbourne in Round 18 this year, we can’t wait for our first rematch against them come Round 7. Also how could we go past our annual Easter Monday clash against Geelong. With the game set to be played out in front of a home crowd at the MCG in Round 5 we have no doubt it will be a classic and worth the wait.

15. Moore breakouts please: After forging a breakout year in 2021 where he solidified his spot in the Hawks’ forward 50, the sky is the limit for Dylan Moore in 2022. The 22-year-old finished as the second-highest goalkicker at the club in 2021, and we're looking forward to seeing him keep slotting them away in '22.

16. Early consecutive wins: It took until Rounds 20 and 21 last year for the Hawks to post back-to-back wins. That's a lot of opportunities missed and ideally, we’d prefer not to wait as long in 2022 - Rounds 1 and 2 would be just fine!

17. VFL: In what will hopefully be a less interrupted VFL season in next year, we can’t wait to see how Box Hill fare. After working alongside Mitchell in 2021, new Box Hill coach Clint Proctor will take over the reins. Here’s hoping for some success for our affiliate side under the new man in charge.

18. Wheelies and Blind: Our Wheelchair and AFL Blind teams faced significant disruptions in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. While neither team managed to taste premiership success this year, we’re excited to see what they can produce in 2022 with a full season under their belts.

19. Marquee games: Getting our big rounds back in 2022 and in front of crowds is something we can’t wait to see. Among them include Emergency Services Round and Sir Doug Nicholls Round. After the round was unfortunately cancelled in 2021, we're stoked to see it get up to Darwin in 2022.

20. Progress on our new home: The construction of our new $30 million homebase, the Kennedy Community Centre, is set to commence in 2022. We'll be eagerly keeping our eye out to see how the project develops throughout the year.

21. Tassie bond strong: 2021 saw an unexpected amount of Hawthorn games played in Tasmania in response to fixture changes due to the pandemic. In 2022, Hawthorn will continue to call Launceston its home-away-from-home with four Hawks home games locked in for UTAS Stadium - keeping a 22-year-long Tassie tradition going strong.

22. Lewis and Kosi combo: We loved what we saw of Mitch Lewis and Jacob Koschitzke in 2021. With the pair kicking 49 goals between them there's plenty to look forward to in the Hawks’ attacking 50 in 2022. No pressure boys!