Merry Christmas my friends! And welcome to day 51 of the 2011 football season.

As we complete 2010 I can report that Hawthorn Football Club and the Government of Tasmania have signed off on the contract that binds both parties together for five years from 2012 until 2016.

It has not been as easy as I had hoped in finalising the contract, but as you have heard me say so often, it is not where you start, but where you finish that is important. And the outcome achieved has been the extension for five years of a wonderful partnership with the community of Tasmania.

I wish to thank the Government of Tasmania and Premier David Bartlett and his team for their considerable understanding of, interest in, and effort to finalise this contract.

To the people of Tasmania, I give you my personal commitment that we at Hawthorn will, over the next six years, go well beyond the letters of the contract to honour our obligations to you, on the field and importantly in promoting Tasmania around Australia.

Hawthorn continues to represent Tasmania in the AFL for no other reason than we genuinely value our total relationship with Tasmania and its community.
To our Tasmanian members, and they are increasing every day, thank you for your most obvious and passionate support. You have started with us, from an early stage,  on what is turning out to be a wonderful journey with more to come.

To those Tasmanians who continue to question the Tasmanian-Hawthorn partnership, can I now invite you to come on board to maximise the advantages to both parties. We at Hawthorn will always be welcoming of constructive criticism and calls to justify our performance, but we see ourselves as part of the totality of Tasmania and not parts of Tasmania. We will work to promote all of Tasmania, not parts of Tasmania, and we will seek to attract tourists and investment to all of Tasmania and not parts of Tasmania. 

To those members of Hawthorn Football Club who oppose and/or question the partnership with Tasmania, can I offer the same invitation to fully come on board. Your Board has made this decision in the best long term interests of the Club.

We get a genuine home ground advantage on the best playing surface in the league. We enjoy the environment in Tasmania, we are increasing our membership faster in Tassie than in any other part of Australia, and through this partnership we realise there is more to life than just football. It is about the relationships and friendships you make and enjoy along life’s journey.

Finally can I thank our CEO Stuart Fox, COO Terry Dillon, Sponsorship Services Manager Jerome Lyford and Board Director Andrew Newbold who have all have been instrumental in securing the contract for us.
In short, Hawthorn Football Club has security for the next six years. Now on with the football.

I should also mention that last Friday I attended  the “soft opening” of the Club’s new investment at Caroline Springs.

West Waters is a huge hotel with 58 rooms, conference centre, dining complex with a TAB sports bar and gaming room.  It has undercover car parking for 430 cars on Level One and Two.

The building is owned by Tatts, but Hawthorn Football Club owns the majority of the businesses in partnership with the Gauci brothers, Eddie and Joe. The Gaucis are very experienced owning and managing nine hotels around Melbourne and they will run West Waters for us. We are indebted to the Gaucis for the enormous amount of effort they have put into getting West Waters up and running.

The accommodation component of the complex will not be finished and opened until late March but all other services are up and running.

If you have some spare time, can I suggest you visit West Waters. It is located on Lakes Street, Caroline Springs. Once there you will not miss the building.
Our substantial investment in West Waters is another decision by your Board to introduce another income stream to the Club to offset the football-related income, which can be highly variable. And as you know funding a football Club is not getting any easier, particularly if you aim to compete in September.
Can I thank Terry Dillon again, Terry has overseen our investment in this project since day one, and it has been an extraordinary effort. Board Directors Geoff Harris, Andrew Newbold and Bruce Growcott have also put in many hours on our behalf to get West Waters up and running.

Again, good people make for great organisations and we are lucky at Hawthorn to have so many good people as part of our family.

Football! Yesterday I watched the boys training and spoke to some of the coaches. All is going well, with some of our new players to vie for places in the team from day one. It looks and smells good. But of course there is a lot to be done in the months ahead. We all have to consistently lift on last year, but I think we are all going to enjoy season 2011.

Our membership numbers are moving towards 40,000 and I thank those who have already joined, and encourage all you who have not to do so asap. Furthermore, encourage any Hawthorn supporter you know who is not a member to join up.

2011 is the 50th anniversary of our first Premiership in 1961, wouldn’t it be nice………………..

We will be celebrating 1961 throughout the year. We are going to play good football and have a lot of fun.

So enough from me now. Have a safe Christmas, and I wish you and your family good health next year, and a wonderful return on your membership investment in the mighty Hawthorn Football Club.

Jeff Kennett
Proudly your President