Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has outlined the direction his club is taking across the next two years, saying members must prepare themselves for two seasons of hitting the draft hard.
Kane Cornes told Footy Classified on Monday night that the Hawks were the furthest team in the AFL from a premiership as the club sits 17th on the ladder after eight rounds.
Kennett believes with crafty list management and strong development pathways, the Hawks will be competitive again in two years.
“What we’re doing this year is making sure (our young players) get to play a number of games,” the Hawks president told SEN Breakfast.
“We will be back in the draft this year and the same will be true next year. What we’re trying to do is make sure they come together as a team, they understand each other well.
“(We want them) to develop a comradeship which we had before in 2004 and 2005 which led to our four premierships that followed.
“It takes two years to do that. We’ve said to our members quite openly that we’re not in the race for silverware this year, unlikely next (year), but from 2023 on, if we’ve got this right, we’re in for another decade of very good, competitive football.
“We’d like to win more games, but winning games, while it sounds stupid, is not the most important thing at the moment.
“The most important thing is to build a football unit that will be competitive for a decade. It will take two years to do that.”
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson is out of contract at the end of next season and Kennett said the two parties will sit down at the end of the year to discuss the future.
“We have a very open relationship with Clarko and his management. What we have said is we will wait until the end of the year and then we will sit down and see what Clarko wants and what the club wants,” he said.
“He has a contract with us until the end of next year. There is no discussion taking place on coaching at all at the moment. We are all as one focused on training these young men up.
“Will Clarko be with us in five years? I’ve got no idea. Will I be there in four years? I do know, I won’t be there. These things are moving feasts and it’s not up to the club to make a decision, it’s a partnership, a relationship with other people and we’ll have those discussions at the end of the year.”
Kennett has also been vocal on Hawthorn getting an AFLW license.
The Hawks are one of four teams yet to enter the competition and the Hawks president does not expect that to change next year.
“What I’m hearing is not going to please me very much. What I’m hearing is the AFL is looking at bringing forward the 2022 AFLW season so it doesn’t compete with the AFL season itself and then start the season after that at the end of (2023),” Kennett said.
“I think (for the 2023 season) we will be competing in the competition. I haven’t heard anything officially, but what I’m picking up around the traps, it looks as though we won’t be in next year, but we will be in the one after that.
“If that’s the way the AFL goes, of course I’m disappointed, I’m mainly disappointed for our females who compete in our VFLW team who are wonderful young ladies, but again, if that’s what the AFL dictates then we will start preparing from the moment that decision is made. We will be competitive.”
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