HAWTHORN is aware of Bradley Hill meeting with Fremantle coach Ross Lyon last week and is open to the possibility of trading the classy midfielder to his home state of Western Australia.
The 23-year-old is contracted until the end of 2017 and the Hawks remain hopeful of keeping the three-time premiership midfielder.
If the Hawks were to trade Hill to Fremantle then he will be able to play alongside his brother Stephen.
"We've been aware of that. He's a West Australian boy, he's got family back there," coach Alastair Clarkson said at training on Saturday.
"We explored the idea of trying to get Stephen to our footy club. These sort of things happen all the time.
"We've been aware of it for five or six weeks. Bradley's spoken to us about it. We just want to work through it as a footy club in a mature sort of way.
"We're not going to let him go easily by any stretch, but we'll try to accommodate it if a type of deal can be reached at the end of the year.
"We want to work through that with Bradley, and there's every chance he's going to be at Hawthorn next year and beyond.
"It's not a fait accompli that he's going to go."
Hill has struggled to find form in his 12 games this season, although he did have his best game against the Swans last week with 25 touches and a goal.
"They are a long way away from family and support networks. Given they're the circumstances, we try to be the father figure and the older brother where we possibly can," Clarkson said.
"He's found that tough, but I don't think that's contributed to his decision (to consider a move). It's mainly around his family. He's got younger brothers and sisters.
"That will play out at the back end of the year, rather than now."
The coach also refuted suggestions veteran stars Shaun Burgoyne, Josh Gibson and Luke Hodge would be re-signed imminently.
"No, we haven't. We're hopeful these guys can play for another two or three years, because they've been such fantastic warriors," Clarkson said.
"We've also got to keep one eye on the now, and one eye on the future, and that's not always easy.
"We'll let the full season determine when we're going to make those sorts of calls."
However, that does not mean contract talks have been put on hold.
"Discussions will continue on with their management, but we're in no urgency to have to make those calls. We've been in ongoing dialogue with Josh's management, and also Shaun's and Hodgey's," Clarkson said.
Sam Mitchell, who is due to play his 300th game against Richmond on Sunday, has already been signed for next season.