Dear Members, 

I thought it would be a good opportunity to touch base with you all after the free agency and trade period. It is a pretty frantic period with lots of rumours and media coverage at all-time high. 

It is easy to get sucked into that whirlwind and forget, for a moment, about our long-term plan for our club. 

For me and our list management team that isn’t an option. 

We must stick to our plan. We spent a long time building a strategy to bring us our next premiership and personally, I am very pleased with our progress 12 months in. 

Part of this strategy was a commitment to invest in the development of our younger players and embed a game style that will withstand the pressure of finals footy when our time comes.

But in saying that, there is absolutely no ceiling on what this group can achieve or speed limit on how quickly it can be done, and what is more important than me believing that, is the players’ belief in our direction. 

Last year you saw the first stages of this. The emergence of Newcombe, Lewis, Reeves and Moore were the first externally noticeable signs of the direction we are heading. 

This year we averaged fielding more players aged 23 and under per game than any other AFL club. What we are seeing is a group of players come through our program together and look to be part of our next premiership team. 

This year's free agency and trade period was the next step in a longer plan to develop our list and return to premiership contention.

To be honest - we don’t get there if we follow the path of least resistance.

This is about building our next phase of talent. I have no interest (and I know the players feel the same), to just sneak into the finals. Internally we are working on building premiership standards because only then can we become a premiership team. 

Premiership teams are not built overnight, we want to be in a position where we are competing to win it all when our time comes – whenever that may be. 

Bringing in Karl Amon, Lloyd Meek and Cooper Stephens is an important part of that process. 
So too was strengthening our selections for the upcoming draft.

Getting the best young talent to the club also remains a priority. We are in a very positive position heading into next month, with picks 6, 24, 41, 48, 50, 52, 65. We also gained additional second-round and fourth-round selections for 2023.

Tom Mitchell, Jaeger O’Meara and Jack Gunston were brilliant contributors to our club. Not just great footballers, but also great people. We wish them well. 

These decisions also give them a fresh opportunity to continue their football journey. 

A lot of people may say, well you are losing some of your older players and experience. Well, my response to that would be: your age doesn’t define your ability to lead.

We have known for some time we would need to find our next wave of future leaders at our club, and that is why over the past 12 months we have spent a significant amount of our focus on this. 

Our flattened leadership structure over the last 12 months is what gives us such confidence that our current group are the right players to drive us forward. Their growth, passion and speed of development has been first class. 

James Sicily (who captained the club for much of the year), Dylan Moore, Blake Hardwick, Jarman Impey and Mitch Lewis have really spent the last year learning to lead this football club under the important guidance of Ben McEvoy. 

Alongside seasoned players like Luke Breust, Sam Frost, and Chad Wingard, I see us being well prepared for season 2023.

So where to from here? 

What I want to see is another year where we make you proud to be a Hawthorn fan. There will be ups and downs, as there is with any season. I am very confident that the strategy laid out before all of us as Hawthorn members, is the right one and I for one am damn excited for this next phase. 
 

Sam Mitchell
AFL Senior Coach
Hawthorn Football Club