HAWTHORN recruit Karl Amon is embracing the opportunity to be a leader at his new club.

Amon crossed from Port Adelaide as a free agent after 124 games at the Power, including every match in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

After a tumultuous Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period, which saw veterans Jack Gunston (Brisbane), Tom Mitchell (Collingwood) and Jaeger O'Meara (Fremantle) traded, as well as the retirements of Ben McEvoy and Liam Shiels, Hawthorn will be the youngest AFL team next year with an average age of 22.1.

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The Hawks also opted not to offer contracts to seasoned campaigners Kyle Hartigan, Tom Phillips and Daniel Howe, as Sam Mitchell continues to shape his list coming into his second year as senior coach.

"As a 27-year-old who's played a bit of footy, I think I put that on myself as well, to try and be a leader on and off the field," Amon said.

"As you said, there's experience gone, but we've got a real core group of ages 23 and 24, which the club is really building on, and I'm keen to be part of it.

"I did a little bit of that stuff at Port Adelaide, and this will be a greater opportunity to excel my leadership, come out of my shell and try and be that leader they want me to be."

Luke Breust is the sole remaining 2015 premiership player on Hawthorn's list, meaning Amon's two preliminary finals in 2020 and 2021 will hold him in good stead.

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"Part of my reasoning of coming to Hawthorn is this is the best fit for me going forward. I still want to improve my football, and I still think I have improvement to go. A club like Hawthorn, where I can show that, will be a great fit," he said.

"Just to bring my strengths, which is outside speed and my running capacity, that's what I want to bring to my game. 

"That's what I base my football around and the conversations that I've had with Sam and David (Hale), as my line coach, is to bring that on game day, and complement what the squad already have."

Amon, a proud Noonuccal man and member of the AFLPA Indigenous advisory board, said he wasn’t at all concerned about moving to a club currently under investigation for historical allegations regarding its treatment of Indigenous players and their families.

"The work I've done with Chad (Wingard) and Jarman (Impey) back at Port Adelaide, I know how keen they are about their Indigenous culture, and I am as well," Amon said.

"Knowing what they want to do is create a really safe environment, and the conversations I've had with people in regard to Sam Mitchell and Robert Harvey (who has since moved to St Kilda), it's exactly like that. 

"They've created a really safe environment in here, and they're really keen to delve into the Indigenous side of things."