President Jeff Kennett has penned the following letter to Hawthorn members...

Hi Happy Hawkers.

Well a lot has happened since I last wrote. I apologise for the delay.

Firstly, thank you to those who responded to my letter and those who renewed their membership with the club.

Your commitment saw us reach our 80,000-member target, which is an extraordinary effort and yet another membership record for the club. My sincere thanks to all, and our membership department who work so hard on the club’s behalf.

We finished second behind Richmond, who exceeded just over 100,000 members. They became the first AFL club ever to do so, so we congratulate Richmond. Having won the premiership last year, Tiger supporters whose memberships had lapsed came out of the wood work and roared. Great effort.

Our second-place effort is still a fantastic result. We will need everyone’s support next year to break our record for a 13th consecutive year. Again, my thanks.

In the meantime, we members are being well and truly rewarded for our support of the club.

The last two weeks have produced two wonderful games against Essendon and Geelong. Even better results! Both tough, but both exciting games with tight finishes. Just the sort of hard games you need as we enter the pointy end of the season.

It is always good to beat Essendon, and our captain of the 2004 “Line in the Sand” match, Richie Vandenberg, is a valued member of our current Board and is our Director of Football. He works very closely with Alastair Clarkson and Graham Wright. A very formidable and experienced trio.

Our clash with Geelong, again in the tradition of all games we play against them, was a great match. Geelong powered home strongly in the last quarter, however we managed to hold firm. Our defence was wonderful to watch, as was our endeavour throughout the game.

Former Coach Alan Jeans who strongly believed “if you win the tackles, you will win the game” would have been proud of the boy’s effort. In the end an 11-point victory to Hawthorn. A big margin when you consider previous games between the two clubs.

Now with two weeks of home and away games left, against St Kilda at Etihad and finally Sydney in Sydney, our future is in our own hands!

It is exciting. Our more senior players are stepping up to the plate, and our newer arrivals and younger players are hungry to prove themselves and win their first premiership. All in all, a good combination.

But one game at a time, and the way this competition is finishing there could be surprises in store for all.

I should also report our VFLW team is having a wonderful year. A very big win on Sunday against the Bulldogs, with the team finishing up 54-point victors. With 74 points on the board, it was the highest score the girls have kicked. Currently they are sitting 4rd on the VFLW ladder. They have two games to play, the first being next week against the Northern Territory in Darwin. So, let’s hope they keep marching into finals territory.

Our VFL team are currently in 5th position, and despite having lost to Werribee on the weekend they too are in contention for finals.

So hopefully three teams out of three will have the opportunity to play finals and fight for the rewards that they all seek.

It sure is going to be a busy time as we come to the pointy end of the year.

On a different matter. Many of you will remember seeing Hawthorn play in what looked like a white jumper as our away outfit. Never again. White is the colour of surrender and at Hawthorn we never surrender. We might get beaten but we fight every match out to the final siren. That strip has been consigned to the waste paper bin forever.

Let’s face it brown and gold does not conflict with any other colours, so we will wear it proudly every game but one.

The only exception will be the jumper we wear for the Indigenous round, which will be a special design, recognising the importance we attach to the 16 Indigenous players who have so far represented Hawthorn.

Finally, work is continuing on the final designs for the Kennedy Community Centre. We hope to have those completed by end of the year.

We also hope to “cap” the site this year. This is where we create several test sites to establish any movement in the ground before we proceed to construct hopefully in early 2020.

So, a lot happening. Remember the name we have given this five-year period within our overall 2050 strategy? Dare to be Different! We are daring right now.

Stay well, stay Hawthorn and stay brown and gold.

Jeff Kennett

President