The first quarter we seemed to forget we were on the park to play football but what a great second quarter rebound. In the third we lost our focus, but then the magnificent fourth quarter saw the team dig deep and pull off a stunning victory.
In days past we would not have had the confidence, nor the mind set to have fought back to believe we could still win when behind. I think the game on Saturday against North Melbourne was a milestone for the team, coaches and supporters.
As Captain Sam Mitchell said after the game, the team "displayed a confidence in each other," that is absolutely necessary if you want to play finals football and to win a premiership.
Of course we are not going to win all games this year, but I think Saturday’s game demonstrated a wonderful development in the teams’ growth year on year.
Congratulations to all concerned, but that game is now history and we must focus on our game this Sunday at Aurora Stadium against Adelaide.
Medical staff
We were reminded on Saturday of the importance of our medical staff headed by Head Fitness Coach Andrew Russell. Andrew said without the medical staff - doctors, physios, etc we could not have pulled off the result we did against North Melbourne.
And of course Andrew is correct. I remember being with and flying home with most of the team after our game against Fremantle. Brad Sewell and Clinton Young were icing having received a solid knocks, others were in similar condition. Our Chief Executive Ian Robson informed me that several members of the team on the plane were applying ice every hour throughout the flight. I was sure several players would not be fit enough to play against North, but they did and Brad Sewell had a wonderful game.
So our thanks go to our medical staff, all of them - you make the difference.
I should also add, the quality and number of medical staff we can provide for our players is in direct proportion to the financial success of the Club. Just two years ago we did not have the financial resources to provide as fully as we do today. Yet good support staff is the difference between the top clubs and others.
At the end of last year the football department made a submission to the Board for an extra $1m in extra support for the team in 2008. The Board was in a position thanks to our increasing membership and sponsors to agree to most of those requests.
Sadly nothing is gained without financial resources, and we must remain commercially successful to win our 10th Premiership
Supporters on Saturday
Saturday was North Melbourne’s home match, but from where I was sitting and looking up to the top tier of the Telstra Dome, you could have been mistaken for thinking it was a Hawthorn home game.
The top tier was almost packed to capacity, but what was equally impressive was the fact that it was a sea of brown and gold.
The obvious support by members and supporters made me very proud to be your President. To prove the point, when I arrived at the ground at about 12.10pm while on my way to do a radio interview with 3AW, I met a young Hawk family, the Brogdens - mum Tanya, dad Andrew, daughters Hannah and Jade, and in a pusher 6 month old Leah, dressed to the hilt in Hawthorn regalia, including a Hawthorn beanie.
The Brogdens, including Leah, are paid up Kennedy Club members; beat that for paid up and passionate. I hope to again track down the Brogdens family and get a photograph of this most committed Hawk family.
Membership
Just one last point on members and membership.
By close of business last Saturday night, our membership stood at 34,524, 476 short of our membership target for 2008 of 35,000.
What a wonderful achievement, and thank you to our staff who have driven the campaign and all of those who have joined or encouraged supporters to come on board.
But do not become complacent, we have till the end of June to register final membership with the AFL. So sign up your friends, and those 4,500 members who have not renewed from last year please do so. Remember it is members’ subscriptions and sponsorships that allow us to hire the support staff to keep our players on the field.
If all lapsed members rejoin, and a few others we could reach 40,000 this year. Let’s do it, and be winners off field as well as on field.
New sponsor
We welcome to our Club a new sponsor NEC. NEC is a very large Japanese international business that has been operating in Australia for over 30 years. They are a company that provides a range of IT and telephonic services and electronic equipment. They employ hundreds of people throughout Australia, and at their headquarters at Mulgrave Victoria, not far from our home at Waverley Park. They employ 400 engineers on developing new NEC products for the world. They are clearly world leaders in their field.
NEC is involved in several community based sponsorships and we welcome them to our family. NEC's sponsorship is delivering the NEC Tassie Hawks Cup I explain below.
Thank you NEC.
Tasmania
Last Wednesday Ian Robson and I travelled to Tasmania for two reasons.
One was to launch the NEC Tassie Hawks Cup which we are conducting with AFL Tasmania. This is a competition to be conducted between 61 secondary schools between now and the Grand Final of the competition on the 3 September.
This is part of our stewardship with Tasmania to build a community presence. In this case a competition among young men, keen on their football. Who knows we may discover the next Peter Hudson, Grant Birchall or Simon Taylor among those competing.
Secondly we met with Tasmanian Premier Mr. Paul Lennon, the Sports Minister Paula Wreidt and several of their senior officials to give an account of our stewardship of our partnership with Tasmania directly to the Premier.
We do this two or three times a year. This enables us to bring the Premier up to date with what we are doing at the Club and in, with and for Tasmania, and also to hear from the Premier and his team with any of their concerns and any suggestions as to how we may discharge our responsibilities to Tasmania and its community better.
It was a good frank meeting as we have come to expect when meeting with Mr. Lennon. However he did indicate he was very happy with the fulsome way in which Hawthorn is discharging its responsibilities under the contract.
The Premier did indicate though it will always be his and Tasmania’s priority to get a Tasmanian team into the AFL. And that he was very upset the AFL was working towards introducing to new teams into the league, and neither were coming to Tasmania.
Ian and I indicated our understanding of the Premiers position, and for the support of the proposition, but until that goal is achieved hoped that Hawthorn alternative was the second best option. The Premier agreed it was, but expect to hear more from Tassie on this issue.
For now, stay well, and stay passionate. I hope our members and those from Melbourne who travel to Tassie next week, fill the stands with brown and gold to cheer our team to new heights.
Jeff Kennett
President
