Hawthorn president-elect Peter Nankivell has declared the club has lofty goals for the future in terms of premiership success.
The Hawks are the most successful team since the launch of the AFL era in 1990, winning five premierships to lead the competition.
But Nankivell is planning for that to more than double in the coming three decades.
Current Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett – who is currently standing down after surgery – told SEN in May 2021: “We’ve said to our members quite openly for the beginning of this year, we’re not in the race for silverware this year, unlikely next, but from 2023 onwards, if we’ve got this right, we’re in for another decade of very good, competitive football.”
While Nankivell admitted that was now unlikely, the board member set an even higher goal for the medium term.
SEVEN more premierships by 2050?
— SEN 1116 (@1116sen) November 8, 2022
Fair to say the Hawks have set some lofty long-term goals for themselves...@WhateleySEN | #AFL pic.twitter.com/XFH97epAy9
“I think 2023 is ambitious, but in terms of our objective as a football club and our global goal and what we’re challenging ourselves to do is remain a very successful club,” he told SEN’s Whateley.
“The Hawthorn Football Club is used to that success, it’s in our DNA, it’s winning premierships is what we’re about.
“So we’ve set ourselves a target of winning another seven premierships by 2050, and I think that with Sam coming on board and coaching this year I think the football public has the opportunity to take notice and see what Sam is capable of doing.
“The fact we’ve got a very young list, playing more players under 23 than any other team, an age-appropriate leadership group of more senior players (with James) Sicily, (James) Worpel, (Blake) Hardwick, (Karl) Amon, we’re putting together a team that will not only play finals but wins finals.”
However, Nankivell also refused to put a timeline on when the club aimed to return as an on-field force.
“We at this stage are seeing success each week when we go out on the park and go out on the ground and we judge ourselves by those successes we see,” he added.
Hawthorn committed to a rebuild under Mitchell when he took over from Alastair Clarkson at the end of 2021, playing one of the younger teams in the competition throughout the season just gone when finishing 13th.
The Hawks shedded even more experience in the 2022 trade period, losing Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara to trades, Jack Gunston to free agency and Ben McEvoy to retirement.