Why Hawthorn is not the destination club you want it to be
But history tells that why that soon may change
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Hawks fans are excited as ever about this ongoing trade period, despite a lack of any meaningful action in week one.
At Hawks Insiders, we’ve seen this first-hand through the robust and passionate trade discussions we’ve had on our socials, as well as our nightly Twitter Spaces chats, where 100+ Hawks supporters tune in to discuss the trade news of the day. (Join us tonight @HawksInsiders!)
Traditionally, it has been a great time for our club and for supporters. In recent times, you probably remember where you were when Ben McEvoy, Brian Lake, Tom Mitchell, Jaeger O’Meara or Chad decided the Hawthorn footy club would be their new home. As fans, we were excited about the new additions; firstly choosing and then being delivered to the Hawthorn Football Club.
But over the past week I have noticed a lot of fans frustrated with the number of players becoming available in the window, but not choosing Hawthorn as a destination. Bobby Hill seems to be the latest, reportedly nominating E*sendon as his preferred club.
My advice to them is: Be still. Patience is a virtue.
It makes perfect sense that players changing clubs leave for a number of reasons: financial, personal, emotional, and to head to a club that is a chance of winning a flag.
This latter is significant in exploring a recent history of the Hawks through the trade period.
It is well documented and celebrated how successful we were through the late-2000s and into the mid-2010s in terms of recruiting players to the Hawks, and being the ultimate ‘destination club’.
To get an idea of how well we did recruiting quality recycled players throughout this time, it’s worth examining the players who came from other clubs before, during and after this period and how they arrived.
(T) = Acquired via Trade
(D) – Acquired via draft / free agency:
(RD is Rookie Draft, PSD is Pre Season Draft, ND is National Draft, FA is Free Agent)
Pre Clarko – 2000 – 2004
During this period, we gave up high picks for the likes of Shaun Rehn and Spida Everitt believing we were right in a window, and yet still coming off mediocre on-field performances. Evidently we weren’t in the window per se – and we didn’t bring that many players in.
Barry Young (D) - PSD
Matthew Dent (D) - PSD
Simon Cox (D) - ND
Nick Stone (D) - RD
Shaun Rehn (T) – Pick 12
Peter Everitt (T) – Picks 6 & 22
Kingsly Hunter (T) – Pick 34
Simon Beaumont (T) – Tim Clarke
Danny Jacobs (T) - Lochlan Veale
Clarkson Phase 1 – 2005 – 2009
Moving on to the start of the Clarkson era, and there weren’t any players traded in, with Bo Nixon (who played one game for the Hawks) coming in from Collingwood as part of a deal to upgrade our draft pick, which we used for Jordan Lewis. These were the early Clarko years when he was building his empire – including a surprise 2008 flag.
Brent Guerra (D) - PSD
Stephen Gilham (D) - RD
Stuart Dew (D) – Pick 45
Bo Nixon (T) – Nixon and Pick 7 (J Lewis) IN for Picks 10 and 37 OUT
Clarkson Phase 2 – 2010 - 2015
This is when things start to get interesting. We followed up 2008 and the promise of more success by being able to trade in a significant number of big name players (Gibson, Hale, Gunston, Lake and McEvoy) with high-end draft picks.
Rhan Hooper (D) - RD
Carl Peterson (D) - RD
Wayde Skipper (D) - RD
Cam Bruce (D) – PSD
Broc McCauley (D) – RD
Jonathan Simpkin (D) – FA
Jon Ceglar (D) – RD
James Frawley (D) - FA
Shaun Burgoyne (T) – Pick 9 and Mark Williams for Burgoyne and Pick 58 (Hooper)
Josh Gibson (T) – Picks 25 and 41
David Hale (T) – Comp Pick (Campbell Brown) and pick 71
Kyle Cheney (T) – Pick 52
Jack Gunston (T) – Pick 24, 46 and 64 for Gunston, pick 53 (Woodward) and 71.
Jed Anderson (T) - Gilham
Brian Lake (T) – Lake and Pick 27 IN and Picks 21 and 43 OUT
Matt Spangher (T) – Spangher and pick 70 (Osborne) for Pick 64
Ben McEvoy (T) – Shane Savage, Picks 18 & 19 for McEvoy, Picks 24 (Hartung) and 59
Jon O’Rourke (T) – O’Rourke and Pick 43 for Picks 19 and 40
Clarkson Phase 3 – 2016 – Present
After the three-peat era, the Hawks went hard chasing more silverware. Let’s call this the ‘Moneyball Era’. We were happy to part with several high end picks for big-name recruits like Wingard, O’Meara and Tom Mitchell.
Ricky Henderson (D) - FA
Ty Vickery (D) – FA
Michael Hartley - (D) – PSD
Darren Minchington - (D) - FA
Keegan Brooksby - (D) - FA
Jack Fitzpatrick (T) – Pick 94
Tom Mitchell (T) – Pick 14
Jaeger O’Meara (T) – Pick 10 and 2017 R2 selection
Jarman Impey (T) – Pick 33
Jack Scrimshaw (T) – Swap of R4 picks
Tom Scully (T) – R4 pick
Chad Wingard – (T) Burton, Picks 15 and 35
Sam Frost – (T) – Swap of picks – basically free
Jon Patton - (T) – R4 pick
Kyle Hartigan - (T) – R4 pick
Tom Phillips – (T) – Pick 64
So what does this mean?
If we reflect on the Clarkson era, even he was unable to/chose not to bring players in via trade from other clubs in the early period of his rebuild.
It wasn’t until he rebuilt the culture, changed the inner workings of the club, created his new game plan, and slowly worked his team up the ladder that we actually became a club that players wanted to come to.
At this time we were able to get a host of players acquired using our higher draft picks. (As opposed to the years of recruiting at the draft using our high picks for ourselves.)
The notion of a premiership window is real and it came into play throughout Clarko’s tenure in terms of when to trade players out, when to hit the draft, and when to bring players in to cement the groundwork already put in place.
Post our three-peat, we continued to use high draft picks in for elite level talent – under the guise of still being in the premiership window.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Evidently we weren’t in any sort of window and, as such, slid back down the table.
Where are we now?
Now we are at a place where we have removed a lot of the deadwood from the Clarkson era. In the past 12 months we have seen Patton, Scully and Henderson leave, along with the likes of Minchington, Smith, Stratton, and Poppy.
Add names such as Brooksby, Hartley, Cousins, Timmy O, and Silk and we are well and truly back to the ‘2000–2004’ era in the Clarkson reign. Only this time - it’s Sammy at the helm.
So back to the question at hand. Why can’t we attract players at the moment?
Patience.
Sammy is starting to build his list. He has picked the team of coaches and right people to have around him. He is developing a strong, fast, attacking game plan.
He has a great young group of players including high-end draft talent such as Will Day and DGB. He has three picks inside 25 at his disposal, and may have more at this year’s draft at the end of this trade period.
It’s hardly surprising - given the current state of our list build - that Peter Ladhams or Bobby Hill don’t seem interested in Hawthorn right now. And the reality is we should be using our picks to hit the draft at this point of our list build.
But give it 12–24 months. If we win 7-10 games this season, and potentially more the season after on our journey under Mitch, then things will turn. If word gets out among the football fraternity - players, their managers and the media - that Mitchell can coach, then Hawthorn will again become a destination club and players will choose us.
Then we will be prepared to trade out our picks, and add the secret ingredients that will lead to premiership number 14 – it’s bloody exciting.
But while it’s hard to do in the trade period itself, we must be patient. Because good things come to those who wait. Case in point 👇
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