And again as I write this the Club is in very sound condition. We have had over 41,000 members renew their membership for this year. We have 17,000 who have not renewed to date. Can I invite all of those supporters to do so as quickly as possible, because I feel we are on the cusp of another great year and we need your support.
We need your support at each game we play. We should never underestimate how it inspires and lifts our players when they compete in front of a large Hawthorn crowd. When they look into the stadium they see large blocks of colour of brown and gold.
This year our fulfilment of membership packs has been a vast improvement on last year and 35,000 packs were sent out before Christmas. Still we underestimated demand by 5 000 and those packs will reach members by early March. I apologise for this foul up, it will not happen again.
Our new Chief Executive Stuart Fox has settled in quickly and has already made changes that will improve the efficiency of the Club.
We are completing the next stage of refurbishment to the Club’s facility at Waverley, which utilizes some of the areas that had not been occupied previously. This will ensure better facilities in particular for the coaches and the players.
Excitingly we are completing an innovative water harvest partnership, which is a partnership between Hawthorn, Woolworths and the Victorian State Government. This allows us to collect water from the vast roof of the nearby Woolworths Distribution Centre, move it through pipes and pumping stations to both storage tanks and the large dam in the Mirvac development. This will ensure that we will always have water to feed our oval at Waverley. We will be drought-proof, and our major facility and asset will always be available, in the best condition for our players for training purposes.
I am sure you will hear a lot more about this project, as it is really a first, that will enable us to provide excess water to other community ovals in the area. The project was jointly funded by Hawthorn and the State Government. I thank the Government for their support.
Our partnership with the development of the Caroline Springs is progressing well and is due for completion and opening late this year. Importantly, when fully operational, this project will provide another income source to the Club from non-football activities. While this investment will cost us a great deal of money, we have an asset that is easily tradable - not that we intend to sell it, as we have invested for the annual revenue stream.
Our relationship with Tasmania continues to grow. Last week many of us spent a great deal of time in Tassie launching our year and the players and coaches participated in our Community Camp that we conducted in many locations throughout the State.
Already our membership in Tasmania has passed 7 000, a wonderful result as we work towards our target of 10,000. If we achieve 10,000 members in Tassie that will equate to 2% of the Tasmanian population. That would be extroadinary as our members in Victoria as a percentage of population is only less than 1%, and that is the highest of any Club in Victoria.
So thank you Tasmanians, and keep joining so we can break all records for a club or association in Tasmania ever!
Tasmania goes to the polls on about 20 March 2010. The public will then decide the makeup of their Government for the next four years. As a Club we will work with whoever is elected to form Government and the opposition. We as a Club are absolutely apolitical, and will not involve ourselves in any political campaign. Not to say we wont help if asked in small ways, but such help would be available to all parties not exclusively to one.
Once the new Government is sworn in we will start negotiations regarding our contract with Tasmania, hopefully for renewal between 2012 and 2016.
The NAB Cup starts for us on Saturday against Richmond. It will be a night game starting at 7.40pm and played at Aurora Stadium in Tassie. It will be televised via Channel 10 LIVE in Melbourne at 7.40pm and at 8.30pm on Southern Cross in Tasmania.
I think you all know my view on the Pre-season Cup. All I hope for is that our players complete the competition injury free, in readiness for the main competition. Coaches trial a lot of theories, and give a lot of younger players the opportunity to show their wares. For these reasons and more I strongly advise people not to bet on any game or the outcome of the competition. If you want to gamble on football, wait for the main game when the competition is serious.
Finally, the Club could not be entering the season in much better condition than we are. Yes we have a few players with some injury concerns, but the pre-season has been wonderful, with most players completing the entire season. Some of our more experienced players you won’t recognize they are so fit, and ready to play. Our three experienced new arrivals will play a major part in our success this year, and some of our younger players are keen as mustard and will have great impact and provide us with extra depth.
In addition, the football department and coaches are just waiting to put into place not just the hard work of the last six months, but the continual building of a great team that started with force from late 2004 and early 2005.
Thank you all for your support. If you have not re-joined please do so now, and let the whistle blow for the start of season 2010.
Jeff Kennett
President
