Happy New Year Hawkers, members, supporters and potential new supporters!

This is your president speaking!

I trust you have all had an enjoyable festive season and have started the new year at a good pace, in fact at a trot.

So much news to report!

Those who attended our AGM in December will remember that we announced our new Vision, 2050. We committed to 20 Premierships by 2050, which means adding a further seven to the club’s current tally, and laid down our fundamental administrative objectives.

The first priority was continuing good governance at the club, the second the wellbeing of all our employees, regardless of which department they work in.

After a lot of consideration and the good will of Jason Burt, today Justin Reeves, your CEO, and I, announced a number of administrative changes to put into effect our commitment to the wellbeing of all our employees.

Jason Burt has agreed and is excited to accept a new senior position as the club’s General Manager -People, Culture and Integrity.

Read: Burt shifts focus from football to people

Jason has been at the club for 12 years having come to us after a very successful teaching career and is highly respected for his knowledge, experience and compassion.

He will carry out this new task with a vigour and professionalism that will be important to all our employees. Importantly he will add an important focus to the career planning of all our staff.

Due to Jason’s promotion, Graham Wright has been appointed as our new General Manager -Football. Graham has been with Hawthorn for 11 years and was appointed to the important task of Recruiting Manager in 2011.

He knows our football department like the back of his hand. He has been instrumental in the recruitment of all players now at the club. He knows them, their families, their managers and our salary cap.

Graham is also highly experienced as a footballer, having played 201 games for Collingwood between 1988 and 1998, including the Pies 1990 Premiership. He was runner up in the Brownlow that same year and played for Devonport in Tasmania prior to joining Collingwood.

Graham is his own man, a valuable Hawthorn asset whose influence will now be felt as General Manager - Football.

His role as National Recruiting Manager will be filled by Mark McKenzie, who worked as Graham’s 2IC for a number of years.

Mark played for Woodville-West Torrens in South Australia for ten years and was a highly decorated player, winning their best and fairest six times and playing in their premiership sides in 2006 and 2011.

Mark has been with Hawthorn since 2012, knows football, knows what to look for in players, has done his apprenticeship and is well prepared to accept this new role.

The Board and I are particularly pleased that these vital positions, in any football club, have been filled from within. It is an indication of our onsite training and culture. We have lost a lot of quality administrators and assistant coaches to other clubs in recent years, but we wear this as a badge of honour that other club's think so highly of Hawthorn’s culture and professionalism.

As such it is equally satisfying when you can elevate from within for senior positions.

You might have heard that David Rath, after many years of service to the club, has accepted a senior position at the AFL. We will miss David and his unique skill set but he leaves with our thanks and support. He will always be welcome at Hawthorn.

With the changes within the football department mentioned above, Justin and I believe we are in the best position to deliver on the field this season.

We have met with the coach, witnessed the time trials at Waverley last week and we are excited about what we have witnessed.

Among some of our newer players I saw a drive to win that I have not seen since Josh Gibson expressed (in language I will not use here) his disappointment and disgust in losing the semi-final to Collingwood in 2011.

Players join Hawthorn from other clubs for one reason only, to win premierships. Their focus combined with the desire to succeed from our experienced players was wonderful to see.

Fellow Hawkers, there are so many good things happening at your club. Justin Reeves as CEO has settled in quickly and is making his mark.

Alastair Clarkson is in ripe form and is highly focused. The administration is up and going.

I have so much more I wish to talk to you about but that will have to wait until my next missive in two weeks. In particular, what we are doing with our women's football team.

For now I wish you all well. Our membership has hit 60,000, so thank you, but we need more. So if you have not yet committed please do and if you can find another supporter to join up, do so.

The ball is well and truly rolling, and we need all on board.

For now enjoy the wonderment of tennis at its best at the Australian Open.

Cheers

Jeff Kennett