Dear members and supporters,

On behalf of Hawthorn Football Club I would like to offer you some clarification around Lance Franklin’s departure.

As we guaranteed at the beginning of the year, our primary objective was to minimise distractions for the Club, players and coaching staff as we worked towards achieving our eleventh premiership.

We informed you in February that after we presented Lance with a very strong offer he indicated his preference to delay discussion on his contract to the end of the 2013 season.

The Club accepted Lance was within his rights to proceed that way and we acknowledged the situation was part of a new football landscape under free agency.

Be assured that we continued to work towards retaining Lance within the structure of a talented playing list, and our Recruiting and List Manager Graham Wright kept an open and on-going dialogue with Lance and his manager throughout the season.

When the Club's revised offer to Lance expired on July 31 we made it clear to Lance and his manager that we would begin list management planning for 2014 and beyond, assuming Lance may not be part of those plans and preparing for any eventuality.

The Club continued to focus on achieving its list management objectives, and re-contracted (in chronological order) Luke Breust, Jarryd Roughead, Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge, Shaun Burgoyne, Ben Stratton, David Hale, Tim O’Brien, Bradley Hill, Isaac Smith, Ryan Schoenmakers, Paul Puopolo, Jed Anderson and Liam Shiels this year.

We have always been guided by an established list management strategy that puts the needs and interests of the Club first.

Today we applied that approach as the Club decided against matching an offer from Sydney Swans to restricted free agent Lance Franklin.

In this landscape of free agency, we think this presents an exciting opportunity for the Club to be an active player in the trade and free agency period now and in the future.

We’re sure you will join us in thanking Lance for his service to our great Club; he will always be remembered as a two-time premiership player and a Peter Crimmins medallist. His contribution across his nine-year career has helped Hawthorn achieve the success it has today.

We wish Lance and his family all the best for the future, and we look forward to seeing him at Club functions in years to come to celebrate the premierships he was part of at Hawthorn Football Club.

Lastly, I would like to reiterate that our Club has been, and always will be, about the collective. It was what helped us achieve the 2013 premiership, and it will be what wins us our twelfth premiership when we are fortunate enough to salute again.

Now is the time for our Club and its members to celebrate an outstanding season, and to begin to shift our gaze towards what lies ahead for 2014. I can assure you we will continue to give our all to put Hawthorn Football Club in the best position for future success, and I encourage you to sign up as a 2014 member and join us on the journey.    

Yours faithfully,

Stuart Fox
CEO