Good morning Hawkers,
As January comes to an end, so does the first quarter of the 2011 football season, which officially began on 1 November.
As of today, no club has lost a game! And there is a great deal of activity to be played out over the next eight months.
This week the players, coaches and many staff head to Tasmania to conduct our Community Camp. The players are split up into several groups and will spread out throughout Tassie to meet and work with as many of the community as possible. One of our groups will be returning to King Island.
Our Tassie Season Launch will occur in Hobart this Thursday at a breakfast I will be attending, where I hope to meet with the new Tasmanian Premier - Lara Giddings. We congratulate her on her elevation to high office and wish her well in discharging her responsibilities.
The Club will work closely with Lara and her government in advancing the interests of all Tasmanians.
A final intra-club game will be played at our home ground, Aurora Stadium in Launceston on Friday before the team heads back to Melbourne on Friday afternoon.
Then in two weeks we head to Perth for our first game of the pre-season cup.
Because of the new format in the first round - where each team plays two other teams in a shortened game format - coaches will be experimenting and playing younger players, and in the main the results will not be an accurate reflection of any teams capabilities going into the home and away series.
My advice is if you bet on the outcome of football matches, hold your money until the main game! There is still no guarantee you will win, but you will be investing in a fairer market!
Then on Saturday 26 March, the ball gets bounced for the first round of the season.
For Hawthorn, that means traveling to South Australia to play the Adelaide Crows.
What do I expect of this season? For the competition, not a substantial difference in terms of the final eight than last year.
That is partly because the draft last year so strongly favoured the Gold Coast Suns for their entry into the league, and for most teams there were fewer dramatic changes to their list. Meaning those teams that did well last year, particularly where those teams had youth on their side and had few injuries, can be expected to do well again.
Clearly that makes Collingwood early favourites given their success last year.
Collingwood are already campaigning on the theme “Back to Back Premierships”. That’s fine, but favourites often stumble before the finish line.
No better illustration than this week’s finish to the men’s draw at the Australian Open, where neither of the favourites, Roger Federer and Rafel Nadal, even made the final. So the vagaries of our game will be played out over the next eight months.
For Hawthorn, I expect a much better and more consistent year than last year. We actually have strengthened both our playing list and coaching panel. Alastair Clarkson is totally focused on outcomes as is our new Captain Luke Hodge.
We are completing the best pre-season in three years, and the excitement and the anticipation to get on with the game is evident among the whole football department.
Where will we finish on the ladder at the end of the home and away series? I am not sure, but we aim to do better than last year. But we will know at the end of each match played whether we have “won on the day”.
By that I mean regardless of the result, we will have “won” if after playing four quarters of football, we leave the field knowing we left everything we had to give on the oval.
You can’t win every game, but you can give every game your absolute best, and no one can ask more of themselves or others than to give their all, to give their best.
That’s what I expect from the team this year, and I know it is what they are preparing to give. That being the case, our position on the ladder will take care of itself.
On other matters, the Tasmanian deal is now locked away for five years from 2012, so we have stability among our sponsors. Thank you Tassie, we look forward to years of fun and hard work on your behalf.
Our new investment at Caroline Springs has opened. The gaming room and TAB are in full flight, as are the numerous cafes and bars. The car park for 500 cars has opened and already many bookings have been received for the convention facilities. All that is left for completing are the 80-plus hotel suites.
We thank our partners Eddie and Joe Gaucci for the extraordinary effort they have put in to getting Caroline Springs up and running. I also thank our CFO Terry Dillon who in the main has represented Hawthorn Football Club’s interest. Terry has put in hundreds of hours of work. Thanks also go to Board members Geoff Harris, Andrew Newbold and Bruce Growcott and our CEO Stuart Fox.
When you next have time or are in that part of town, drop in and have a meal, you will be very impressed with the scale and quality of the operation.
Of course this considerable investment is done to increase the Club’s income from non-football activity. This is increasingly important as the cost of running a Club continues to grow.
Finally our membership drive is in full steam. I expect those who have not rejoined will do so soon, as it is only a few weeks until the start of the season. So to you who read this message and who have not lined up, please do so. We need your support and your cash.
To all, stay well, and I will write again in two weeks.
Go Hawks!
Jeff Kennett
President
Kick-off the 2011 season at Hawthorn Football Club’s official Season Launch on Friday 18 March. Tickets are available online, find out more.
