Hawthorn has welcomed three new recruits to the club after a pair of last-minute deals were secured on the final day of the 2022 Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period. 

The Hawks finalised a trade for Fremantle's Lloyd Meek and Geelong's Cooper Stephens to join the brown and gold on Wednesday night.

The young duo joins former Port Adelaide wingman Karl Amon who signed with the club on a four-year deal as an unrestricted free agent earlier this month. 

Amon comes to Hawthorn at the peak of his powers, having spent the past nine seasons at the Power where he has risen to prominence as one of the league’s most talented wingmen through 124 games.

He polled 15 votes in this year's Brownlow across six games - including three consecutive best on ground performances - to finish as the 12th highest vote-getter in the league.

Meek has shown glimpses of strong potential through 15 games for Fremantle after he was selected with Pick 69 in the 2017 national draft.

He won the WAFL club Peel Thunder's best and fairest in 2022 after a series of dominant ruck performances for the Dockers' state-league affiliate. 

The 203cm emerging ruckman joins the Hawks, along with a future second-round pick, after the club struck a deal with Fremantle which saw Jaeger O’Meara and a future fourth-round head to the Dockers in exchange for Meek.

Former first-round pick Stephens joins the Hawks, in addition to pick 41 and 50, after Hawthorn, Geelong and Collingwood reached a three-way deal which saw Tom Mitchell depart for the Pies.

The 188cm big-bodied midfielder played seven games for the Cats across their premiership season, highlighted by a strong 19-disposal and four-mark performance against GWS in Round 8.

Meanwhile unrestricted free agent Jack Gunston was another Hawk to find a new home during the trade period, heading to Brisbane.

Hawthorn Head of Football Rob McCartney said the club now holds a strong suite of draft picks over the next two years, in addition to the trio of new recruits, following the trades. 

“We’re really pleased with the development we saw in the past 12 months. It probably put us in a position to allow us to make some of the decisions that we did last night," McCartney told SEN on Thursday. 

“That was to go into the trade period and take that next step of our long-term plan, developing our list to return to premiership contention."

McCartney said while the club made some bold decisions during the trade period, it made them strategically.

“We could’ve held on to those players - Gunston, Mitchell and O’Meara - and they could have helped us in the phase of getting close to the top eight and maybe just sneaking in," McCartney said. 

“But they weren’t going to be there for us to take that next step, we’d maybe get close to playing finals, but it wouldn’t help catapult us to where Hawks fans are used to us being.

“They are all great servants to our footy club and have been great characters, we’re very appreciative of what they’ve provided, and we wish them all the best.

“But we’re also on a journey where we need to start building towards that next flag and I think we took some steps towards that last night.”

McCartney said he was thrilled to welcome the promising pair of Meek and Stephens.

“We got Meek, a big ruckman, in the trade with O’Meara and that’s something that we desperately needed,” McCartney said. 

“We went in with some positional needs and a ruckman was significant for us, obviously with Ben McEvoy going out and Ned Reeves being a developing ruckman.

“And in the Mitchell trade we got Stephens who is a first rounder, and played seven games with a premiership club in Geelong last year. He’s a big body midfielder and is what we want to develop our future around.

“We feel really confident that we got some of what we wanted out of those trades, we also get a future second in a draft next year which is possibly significantly stronger than this one.”

McCartney added that continuing to invest in the development of its younger players remained a priority moving forward. 

“With Sam coming in as coach, we had a really clear plan in that first 12 months to invest in the development of our younger players," McCartney said. 

“I think all of our fans would say that watching in 2022, we had a number of players emerge under that 24 and under group.

“The likes of Dylan Moore, Mitch Lewis, Jai Newcombe and Josh Ward - they’re just growing before our eyes and they’re growing because they got opportunities.

“But don’t forget we’ve still got some experience that sits with those younger boys and a cohort of players that we think can still support this build that we are on, including the likes of Luke Breust, Chad Wingard, James Sicily, Jarman Impey.

"So we were strategic, we knew what we were doing and committed to the plan.”

Hawthorn currently holds Picks 6, 24, 41, 48, 50, 52 and 65 in next month’s 2022 NAB AFL Draft as it looks to move to the next stage in the off-season process.

In addition, the club also holds a future round two and round four selection in the 2023 national draft.

Traded in:
Karl Amon from Port Adelaide under Free Agency
Lloyd Meek from Fremantle
Cooper Stephens from the Geelong as part of a three-way trade
Round Three Selection (Pick 41) from the GWS Giants, via on-trade by Collingwood
Round Three Selection (Pick 48) from the Geelong Cats, via on-trade by the Brisbane Lions
Round Three Selection (Pick 50) from Collingwood
2023 Future Round Two Selection from the Western Bulldogs, via on-trade by Fremantle
2023 Future Round Four Selection from the Brisbane Lions

Traded out:
Jack Gunston to the Brisbane Lions
Tom Mitchell to Collingwood as part of a three-way trade
Jaeger O’Meara to Fremantle
2023 Future Round Four Selection to Fremantle