No name calling. No screaming headlines. There is none of the drama of some of the great AFL leadership stoushes of recent years such as Greg Westaway and Rod Butterss at St Kilda, Joseph Gutnick and Gabriel Szondy at Melbourne or for those with longer memories, the New Magpies versus the Old Magpies at Collingwood, or George Harris versus Ian Rice at Carlton.
Hawthorn might now boast a loud, proud and passionate supporter base, but the election battle that pits Andrew Newbold against Geoff Lord to become just the 12th president of Hawthorn in the 86 years since the club joined the then Victorian Football League, is being conducted in a relatively tame fashion, as befits a club whose roots are in the safe, quiet and leafy surrounds of Melbourne's affluent, inner-eastern suburbs.
There's not much wrong with the Hawks. The club boasts 55,000 members, plenty of corporate support, plenty of cash in the bank and a record of 10 flags in the past 50 years that is unsurpassed. It will go into 2012 with the premiership window still well and truly ajar.
Newbold, a board member since 2003 wants to continue the legacy left by former presidents Ian Dicker and Jeff Kennett. One where he claims continued "good governance and high-quality decision making at all levels of our business" will cement Hawthorn as a "powerhouse" of the AFL.
Newbold is a lawyer and the founding director of renewable energy business Wind Power, which was sold to Origin Energy at the beginning of 2009. At Hawthorn he was one of the key architects of the move from Glenferrie Oval to Waverley Park in 2006 and his portfolios at the club have centred around governance, risk and non-football income activities such as the new hotel and gaming facility at Caroline Springs. His bid for the presidency comes with the support of Dicker, Kennett and the entire Hawthorn board.
His goals are for Hawthorn to become more family-friendly, to be humble in victory and defeat and to further embrace social media as a way of growing the brand and embracing members and supporters.
Lord wants all that and more for the Hawks. His vision is that bit bolder and more brash. He wants the Hawks to have 60,000 members and a $5 million profit each year. He wants a big-ticket supporter group established from within the business community and a more powerful women's group formed to support the club. He wants a junior Hawthorn team and an alliance with a powerful US sporting organisation.
Tellingly, and perhaps the main issue where he differs from Newbold, is that he believes the Hawks should continue to have an outspoken voice at the helm, one who will publicly take issue with the AFL when and if it's needed.
The irony here is that Kennett, who never misses an opportunity to take it to the AFL, is firmly behind the candidacy of Newbold, who plans to go about his business in private and to keep his media appearances to a minimum.
Lord is seeking his second term as president. The longtime successful businessman was a Hawthorn board member through the mid 1980s and early 1990s when the club won four premierships and was president from 1993 to 1995.
He has strongly refuted suggestions that he supported the failed merger with Melbourne in 1996, but can't escape the reality that it was under his watch when Hawthorn's fortunes rapidly turned for the worse and put the need for drastic action on the table.
On that basis, his chances of winning the presidency in 2011 would be considered remote at best. But Lord's standing as a sports administrator was repatriated by the Melbourne Victory. As the majority owner from day one of the A-League, he built the club from scratch into the most powerful soccer club in Australia, with membership levels and corporate support that is the envy of that sport wouldn't be out of place in an AFL environment and two premierships in five years to go with it.
Lord's bid is also based around support for the democratic process and it is hard to argue with the premise, as he wrote in his letter to Hawthorn members that, "all Hawthorn members deserve the right to vote for a president".
But given the rude health of the football club and the generally similar hopes and aspirations of both candidates, the choice facing the members of Hawthorn over the next few weeks is mainly one of style, not substance.
The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the AFL or the clubs.
Ashley Browne is a member of the Hawthorn Football Club. You can follow him on Twitter @twitter.com/hashbrowne
