It has been some time since I have addressed you through this site, and so much is happening at the Club. I am glad to say in the main good news.

Membership
For the first time since 2004 the Club is pleased to announce it reached 30,000 members on Monday. After a great win against West Coast on the weekend Hawks supporters have got behind the Club and shown their support. Thank you to everyone who has joined as a member.

The Football Team
As you saw this weekend we had a wonderful win. To us supporters it was fast, up the centre and the team when under challenge in the third quarter, as they have in just about every game this year has fought back wonderfully.

To be equal third on the ladder is to say the least very encouraging, but we must not get ahead of ourselves. We are 2 games better than we were at this time last year, but there are still 13 games to be played.

Our game against West Coast is all ready history, and they have to start all over again for the game against Port Adelaide next Sunday.

We wish the team and the coaching panel good fortune.

Can I just mention as we congratulate Chance Bateman, our captain last Saturday and his team, Coach Alastair Clarkson and his team and we should not forget the wonderful work done by Chris Pelchen and his team.

Chris is the Club’s General Manager Player Personnel and Strategy. He leads a team of full and part time people, who throughout the year travel the country looking for, and assessing young men in preparation for the annual AFL draft session, which is conducted after the football season ends.

Many of those players selected by Chris are being molded by Alastair, and are starting to have a real impact on the make up of our team. Combined with our experienced players, we are starting to deliver what we supporters have for years been waiting. Consistently good results!

Tasmania
For those of you who could not make it, let me try and describe the excitement about our team and Tassie.

Felicity and I flew over early Saturday morning. Our plane was full with the majority of passengers wearing brown and gold. The mood was upbeat. Our taxi driver talked nothing but football and Hawthorn as he took us to first out hotel and then the ground.

At Aurora Stadium, our colours were again everywhere to be seen with our staff and volunteers selling memberships and merchandise.

Then the game, a great battle, but just as important, the support from the almost packed stands more vocal than I have ever heard before, cheering on our team throughout what can only be described as a tough and hard match, but an exciting match.

After the football match, back at the supporters function at the local hall, the biggest crowd I have ever witnessed. Happy, excited, in anticipation of the arrival of the team and the coach. Many supporters had come from interstate. Many from Melbourne, but I also met some who had flown in from Sydney and even Western Australia.

Finally back at the hotel and on the plane home, there were happy Hawkers everywhere.

A great feeling when supporters wear their brown and gold with pride.

Tassie Membership
We sold our 3,000th Tassie membership on Saturday. That is a 53% increase on Tassie members last year. A great outcome and we are still signing. Tasmanians are embracing Hawthorn, and we are embracing Tasmania.

Don’t forget our Tassie membership target for 2011 is 10,000 members so we still have a long way to go, but we are on our way.

Aurora Stadium
This is a wonderful ground. The surface magnificent. Importantly we have won 10 out of our 14 games played there. We are making it truly our home ground. We have just beaten last years Premiers, so we can beat anyone at Aurora.

(Before anyone misinterprets the above paragraph, the MCG is the home ground where we play most of our home games, this year seven. And the MCG will always be our main home ground, but we share it with Melbourne, Richmond and Collingwood, so we have no exclusive home ground advantage. But we do in Tassie, no one shares Aurora with us, and we are building the same old fashioned home ground advantage that the interstate clubs enjoy at their grounds).

One of the reasons we entered the partnership with Tasmania.

The Social Club
You may have read that the Board on your behalf has sold the Social Club site to a group of local Hawthorn residents for $2.5m.

While we wanted to develop the site as a medical practice, and gain a substantial rental income for the Club, the residents opposed the idea, and were gearing up to fight our plans in Appeals Tribunal. While your Board was confident of success, it would have taken time and money to pursue, not to mention considerable time of some of our Officers.

Once the residents indicated a serious intent to purchase the site, we negotiated with them, and reached an amicable settlement.

I think it is a truly win/win situation for both parties. After all the Hawthorn Football Club has had a wonderful relationship with Hawthorn, Glenferrie, the residents of the area, and for the last few years with the Boroondara Council, and it would have been disappointing if we had ended up fighting each other in court.

On behalf of the Board can I thank all parties and individuals who assisted in reaching this outcome.

I have run out of time, but I will try and complete this message in a few days.

For now, can I ask you, encourage you to sign up as many Hawthorn supporters you know as possible. We are in an exciting place right now, but we need to maximise our membership.

Thank you. Stay well, and Go Hawks.

Jeff Kennett
President