Jeff Kennett has penned the following letter to members on the eve of the 2018 football season...

Dear Hawkers,

Sorry for the gap between letters to you.

I wrote one a week ago but see I did not press the button to have our team send it to you all.

As on the eve of the season, the energy at the club is palpable. Both in our administration and football departments.

I thank Justin Reeves, Graham Wright and their teams for getting us to this point so professionally.

The team under Jarryd Roughead is up and about with only three players not available for selection owing to injuries. Grant Birchall, Will Langford and Jonathon Ceglar. The enthusiasm of the rest will make the selection of the final team against Collingwood on Saturday night a difficult choice for the coach and selectors.

But not a bad place to be.

The AFLX and JLT competitions are behind us and the ball about to be bounced.

I was at the MCG this morning for a breakfast with our Foundation supporters and the MCG looks in rare and beautiful condition.

I encourage all members and supporters to attend our first game to help lift our team over the line.

For our major sponsor Tasmania, their State election has been contested, won and lost. To Will Hodgman and his Liberal team, congratulations on being returned to government in your own right.

To Rebecca Wright, well done on your first time as leader of the Labor party in contesting an election. I know defeat is difficult, because I led my party to two losses when in Opposition and one in Government. But life goes on, and politics is as much about character and persistence as it is about partisan politics.

Regardless, the Hawthorn Football Club will work in a bi-partisan way with both the major parties in Tassie and all politicians.

As both leaders said to us, they want Hawthorn to remain as long-term partners with Tasmania, as that is our absolute desire, we are in for a long and fruitful relationship.

I should report our new Board Committee structures are working well and included among them are a number of qualified people who bring varied experience to our club. I am personally very grateful to those who have agreed to serve.

Importantly, our Foundation and Dare to be Different Committees under new Board members, Tim Shearer and Radek Sali, are already making a constructive difference.

You will have seen we have got the permission from John Kennedy Snr to name our future home the Kennedy Community Centre.

I want all club members to think of the Kennedy Community Centre as not just referring to John Snr but the entire Kennedy family. John’s late wife Dulcie, was our former Number 1. Female Ticket holder and life-long stalwart for her family, their son John Jr, played 241 games for us and was part of four premierships, and grandson Josh Kennedy also began his career at Hawthorn.

It is the values of the Kennedy family together with Graham Arthur, Alan Jeans, Phil Ryan and many others that have built the values and culture of the club, and those values will be on display at the Kennedy Community Centre.

We will have some very exciting news to announce over the next week or two, so stay tuned. At Hawthorn we do not stand still. We Dare to be Different.

To Jack Gunston who plays his 150^th game this week, congratulations and we look forward to you reaching your 200^th in two years. Jack is a three-time premiership player for Hawthorn and hopefully he can add some more to the cabinet.

Someone asked me at this morning’s breakfast my expectation for the year.

It is to finish the year as a united family of professionals, supporters, sponsors and volunteers, proud of the way we have conducted ourselves on and off the field, excited about our future opportunities, and proud to call ourselves part of the Hawthorn Family. So, with that, let the season begin, and may the best team win!

Stay well

Jeff Kennett       

President