Hawks say relations with senior stars won’t need repairing as club remains open and aggressive with list strategy
Hawthorn was unable to add to its three top-25 selections during the trade period. But it remains steadfast in continuing its bold list strategy.
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Hawthorn has denied new coach Sam Mitchell will have to repair relationships with the club’s experienced players after shopping them around during the trade period.
Denying the trade period had been a failure for the club as it had been unable to secure more early draft picks, Hawthorn’s national recruiting manager Mark McKenzie said the Hawks still considered its draft hand this year to be strong.
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The Hawks brought in young Collingwood ruckman Max Lynch, 23, on a two-year deal while the club sent 30-year-old Jonathon Ceglar to Geelong and lost unrestricted free agent Tim O’Brien to the Western Bulldogs.
As it stands, the Hawks have picks five, 21, 24, 59, 65 and 81 in the national draft but can still trade picks up until the draft.
Mitchell raised eyebrows after it was revealed he hit the phones to rival coaches to discuss the trade prospects of his star veterans.
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Chad Wingard and Luke Breust attracted interest from Greater Western Sydney but both elected to stay at the Hawks as they embark on a new era under Mitchell.
Asked if Mitchell would now need to work on repairing relationships with its experienced stars, McKenzie said the club had been open with the playing group about its want to improve its draft hand.
McKenzie refuted suggestions that Mitchell’s tenure as Hawks coach was off to a rocky start after stepping into the seat vacated by four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson, saying
the players had ultimately “voted with their feet” in opting to stay.
“The best thing about the last couple of weeks is that we have been very open,” McKenzie said on Thursday.
“Sam has been very open with the playing group. As a club, we have been very open with managers, other clubs and the players who have been involved.
“I think it might have even strengthened our group that we are open and honest with those players, I think they have appreciated that.
“And I think the biggest thing for us is that they are an excited, engaged and committed group and looking forward to being under Sam over the next few years.
“The main thing is the players have voted with their feet and their hearts that they want to stay.”
While admitting the Hawks had wanted a better draft hand, McKenzie said the club still considered its draft hand to be strong and the list management strategy would play out over a three to four year period.
He added the Hawks would continue to be “open and aggressive” with its list strategy.
“We’ve still got a pretty strong hand, that’s the way we see it,” McKenzie said.
“We have had eight picks over the last 10 years in the top 30 and now we have got three.
“Yeah, we wanted a better hand, we explored that.
“But also our strategy is not for one year, our strategy is over a three-four year period.
“If it remains with three picks inside 25 and then we are able to get that over the next two years, that’s a strong development for our footy club and that’s a strong part of our list management strategy.
“Even though potentially at this point in time, even though we can still improve those picks, if it doesn’t happen, we are pretty comfortable with those three picks inside 25 and we move on to focus on the next couple of years to try to improve in that area as well.”
Asked how far the Hawks would be from a premiership, McKenzie said the Hawks were not putting a ceiling on their plans.
“The next three or four years are pretty big for us,” McKenzie said.
“We are going to have no ceiling towards what we can achieve. Hopefully sooner rather than later.”
Lynch joins the Hawks after three senior games in the past two seasons
“It was just good to get in a younger ruck at 23 years of age to combine with our list management strategy with what we want to do over the next few years,” McKenzie said.
“He can cover the ground really well. Obviously he has been sitting behind Brodie Grundy so we reckon he has developed quite nicely over the last 18 months.
“Max’s ability to cover the ground for a big man is very impressive but he’s also very durable …. We think he can add a lot to our football club going forward.”
One big winner from AFL trade snooze-fest
Sam Mitchell’s honeymoon period ended up lasting 70 short days and zero AFL games.
As the final siren sounded on the most anticlimactic AFL trade period this century, Hawthorn’s desire to flip its list had come up empty.
But it was the leak of the previous Friday that might have sent a shiver down Mitchell’s spine.
Mitchell’s decision to phone some former Hawks coaching colleagues to discuss trade prospects was eyebrow-raising but not unprecedented in an industry built on networking and footy intelligence.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE RALPHY’S BIG WINNER FROM THE LACK OF TRADE ACTION
Yet the speed at which his overtures flooded across the industry – and the willingness of rival clubs to condemn it – would have left him feeling queasy.
For Mitchell, replacing the greatest coach in modern history, it was a telling reminder of the hyperfocus trained on his every move next year given Hawthorn’s decision to turf a four-time premiership legend.
Given the lack of takers for his star veterans, that focus next year will revolve around whether he has retained his relationships with players hocked to rivals or whether any residual damage emerges.
His football boss Rob McCarthy said on Wednesday night the trade period in which Chad Wingard and Luke Breust had GWS interest that was not reciprocated showed the players were voting with their feet that they wanted to be at Hawthorn.
So now Mitchell and the Hawks have to pivot.
For the AFL competition, we get to see what Mitchell is made of as he attempts to coach the hell out of this side instead of taking the easy way out.
Any club can bottom out for several years, stockpile early picks, then attempt to gradually rise up the ladder.
Hawthorn often boasts about doing it “the hard way” (the title of Harry Gordon’s Hawthorn history) so if Mitchell is the coaching phenomenon then we get to see him attempt to coax everything he can out of a side that hasn’t won a final since the three-peat.
The Hawks might not have drafted elite talent but Jack Scrimshaw is a 23-year-old former pick 7, O’Meara was pick 1 in the 2011 mini-draft, Chad Wingard was a pick 6, Tom Mitchell is a Brownlow Medallist and Changkuoth Jiath can be an A grader.
And in Denver Grainger-Barras, Will Day, Emerson Jeka, Lachie Bramble, Mitch Lewis, Jacob Koschitzke, Tyler Brockman and Jai Newcombe there is a real nucleus of young talent for Mitchell to mould.
The Hawks coasted to a brilliant three-peat not only through their own star power and coaching but also five years of compromised expansion drafts that meant their rivals couldn’t bridge the gap in talent.
But this time around as the Hawks attempted an aggressive list overhaul they ran into a once-in-a-century pandemic.
The salary cap crunch those pay cuts caused through decimated AFL crowds conspired against them with rivals simply unable to fit in the Hawks veterans as the back-ended contracts into 2022.
That same pandemic might also have handed Melbourne a golden opportunity for back-to-back flags given so few rival contenders were able to improve their fortunes.
Port Adelaide whiffed on Jordan Dawson and replaced Peter Ladhams with the flighty Jeremy Finlayson.
Geelong secured a ruck upgrade in Jon Ceglar over Darcy Fort and added a high-ceiling, low-risk small forward in Tyson Stengle but lost youngsters Jordan Clark and Nathan Kreuger.
Richmond lost emerging talls Callum Coleman-Jones and Mabior Chol and St Kilda and Brisbane also did almost nothing that would bring immediate rewards.
Sydney lost Dawson, the Western Bulldogs didn’t add to their ruck stocks, GWS missed on Rory Lobb, and West Coast added only Sam Petrevski-Seton.
It is entirely possible to make the case that of Melbourne’s top nine rivals on ladder position alone, none made a meaningful acquisition that will help them contend against the Demons.
Port will hope Connor Rozee and Zak Butters become centre square mids, Brisbane knows Cam Rayner is back and Zac Bailey is on the verge of outright stardom.
But as Melbourne waits for Luke Jackson, Kysaiah Pickett, Tom Sparrow to mature it will hope it can use circumstances – as Hawthorn did in the threepeat – to keep ahead of the chasing pack.
#BREAKING ….Nothing. #AFLTrades
— Patrick Dangerfield (@dangerfield35) October 13, 2021
Sydney took unders for wingman Dawson (Melbourne’s future first-rounder) but don’t feel too sorry for them given last year rivals didn’t bid on academy pick Braeden Campbell until pick 5, allowing them to swoop on Logan McDonald at pick four.
GWS held firm on Bobby Hill and while he sobbed tears as he pleaded for Adrian Dodoro to secure him, the Giants will believe his comments of only a week ago about a likely contract extension mean they can wrap their loving arms around him.
His management group did nearly everything possible to get him to Essendon but in hindsight should have started his move weeks ago.
Given GWS football boss Jason McCartney said on Wednesday night the club would have kept Hill even if they acquired Luke Breust, maybe it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
So Melbourne starts the 2022 season as shortening AFL favourites.
And the rank-and-file fans pray for full crowds that will not only see them back at the footy but boosting the 2023 cap so next year’s trade period is not such a total snooze-fest.
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