Four-time Hawthorn premiership player Jordan Lewis now believes Hawthorn should look at playing more younger players and even consider trading a number of veteran stars.
The Hawks are currently languishing in the bottom four of the ladder, with their most recent loss coming against Fremantle on Monday night.
As the club positions itself for what it has now admitted is a rebuild, Lewis said he would be a fan of seeing more experienced players who haven’t been playing come in but admitted that was unlikely to happen.
“It’s really hard to admit that you need to go down a different path but from the outside looking in, it certainly seems it needs to go that way,” Lewis said on AFL Nation.
“I would love to see some older players that haven’t been played like (Paul) Puopolo, to see him potentially reach 200 games would be a fantastic achievement for him but I don’t think that will be the case.”
Hawthorn has a number of older players who they could look to trade at the end of the season as they look to the future, which could include the likes of Isaac Smith, Luke Breust and Jack Gunston.
Asked by Anthony Hudson whether the trio have any value on the trade table, Lewis said moving them on could be the right call for both the Hawks and opposition clubs.
“I still think they hold trade value,” he said.
“If I was another club and they were on the trade table, I would snap any one of those three players up.”
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson conceded he would look to make a number of changes ahead of their clash against West Coast against Hawthorn on Sunday night.
“We’ll probably make a few changes this week but as I’ve said we’re not going to make changes for the sake of it,” he told reporters on Saturday.
“We want players playing on their merit.
“Our approach over the next month will be similar to the one we’ve held throughout my time at the club - it’s all about seeking to improve every day.”