Hawthorn has been touted as a key player come the trade period at the end of the season, with suggestions that a topliner might be traded out in order to strengthen the club’s draft hand in December.
Tom Mitchell’s name was raised, only for the 2018 Brownlow medallist to strongly refute the claims.
And now it is Chad Wingard’s turn to reject reports that he might be moved out of Waverley Park.
“It would frustrate me if it was coming from the club, but as far as what my management has been saying, and the conversations I have been having with the club, (they) have been very positive,” Wingard told the club’s Golden Years podcast.
“I do feel valued, and they do see me as part of their future going forward, and that’s enough for me to not even care about the outside noise. And I never did really care about it because the media spin whatever they want to get a story.”
The 27-year-old said that while it is a popular media narrative for clubs to gut their lists and load up with draft selections, such thinking can damage the fabric of the club.
“You can’t just trade a lot of players out and go to the draft. I don’t think that’s the right way to succeed.
“You still need a good culture, you still need guys who can drive good standards on and off the field, and as long as you have got guys that can do that then you create and probably fast-track the younger guys to have a better standard and get their development up and running.”
Wingard, who won’t play in great friend Shaun Burgoyne’s 400th game this weekend against their former club Port Adelaide because hamstring soreness is one of several Hawks who believe things can turn quickly.
Sunday’s three-goal win over GWS Giants was triggered by youngsters such as Will Day, Jack Scrimshaw, Denver Grainger-Barras and Changkuoth Jiath, and Wingard cited rapid turnarounds at Brisbane, Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide as proof that the Hawks are also capable of a quick turnaround.
“You can bounce back really quick – we have to figure that out, we don’t know exactly how to do that, but teams have done it and we have to believe that we can do it as well,” he said.
He told the podcast that despite Hawthorn’s ladder position, he had no regrets about the move from Port Adelaide on a four-year deal at the start of 2019, citing the people, the culture and the care it shows for its players as proof he made the right call.