Five-time Hawthorn premiership player, Dermott Brereton, believes the Hawks need to retain a slew of their veterans next season.
It has been reported former skipper, Luke Hodge, and two-time best-and-fairest winner, Josh Gibson, could retire at seasons end. At 34-years-old, questions also linger about Shaun Burgoyne’s future.
After Alastair Clarkson let champions Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis go at the end of 2016, it seems to have set a standard for Hawthorn’s aggressive list rebuild. However, the former Peter Crimmins Memorial Trophy winner says the trio of Hodge, Gibson and Burgoyne need to stay, in order to assist the Hawks’ youngsters.
“You have to keep them all,” Brereton told SEN’s The Run Home.
“They’re old, but where Hawthorn is at, they need them. They played two first gamers last week. Hodge played, without Hodge, they don’t win. You could have played another first gamer, you get another game into him, but all three of them play in a losing team.
“What would you rather – three of them in a losing team or two in a winning team?”
In Friday’s win over Sydney, Hawthorn had eight players aged 23 or less, representing a willingness to play youth.
One of those youngsters, Tom Mitchell, had another huge game with 31 disposals and earned the praise of Brereton.
“Tom Mitchell keeps copping it, but he is third for contested possessions in the league,” he said.
“He has been enormous for the Hawks.”