Hawks president Jeff Kennett confident club will be in flag ‘hunt’ for at least next five years
JEFF Kennett is convinced Hawthorn will be in the premiership “hunt” for at least the next five seasons, saying the club’s youngsters remind him of the club’s recent decorated group.
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JEFF Kennett is convinced Hawthorn will be in the premiership “hunt” for at least the next five seasons, saying the club’s current tier of youngsters remind him of the bracket that helped deliver four AFL flags in the space of eight seasons.
Speaking ahead of Thursday night’s qualifying final against Richmond, the Hawks president said he couldn’t be more excited about the future.
“Whatever the season holds for us (this year) — and I hope we go deep — I cannot tell you how convinced I am that the next five years of the Hawthorn Football Club are going to be very strong,” Kennett told the Herald Sun.
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“Today we have a number of players who have been involved in premierships before, and they are still delivering, (players) like (Jack) Gunston, Ben Stratton and (Luke) Breust.
“Behind them, there is this other extraordinary group of young athletes who are as hungry as the Hodges, the Mitchells and the others were in 2008.
“We have got a team of young people who are coming up behind that senior level (of players) who are providing the same drive that I saw in 2008. They are all very, very hungry.”
Kennett, back for his second stint as president, said the emergence of a number of the club’s younger players had been crucial in the turnaround from 12th last season to a top four finish.
“We have got together people like (Harry) Morrison, Jarman Impey, obviously Tom Mitchell, James Sicily and Jaeger O’Meara … and James Worpel, who is a machine,” Kennett said.
“It’s very exciting for Hawthorn supporters … we are going to be a very influential club on the field for at least the next five years.”
He said the club’s 2050 vision — set out in five-year strategic plans — had set an ambitious target of winning seven flags over the next 32 years — at a rate of one every 4.8 years.
“We have been getting them since 1961 at a rate of one every 4.4 years,” he said.
“In that period (from 2018-2022) we have said that we have got to win two premierships, and if we do that, we will be ahead of the curve in terms of the 2050, and the next board can adapt accordingly.
“It would be great if we could pull off those two premierships (in that time frame), but we are going to be in the hunt.”
Kennett said Clarkson was an “extraordinary” coach who continued to reinvent himself.
“I am not going to predict the future, and I don’t want to get ahead ourselves, as I want to focus on Thursday night,” he said.
“But whatever the future holds over the next month, Hawthorn supporters must have that warm inner glow that the club is performing the way it is, and is in with a chance.”
Originally published as Hawks president Jeff Kennett confident club will be in flag ‘hunt’ for at least next five years