Hawthorn's battle to halt their slide, rebuild and re-climb the ladder has been made more difficult with a challenging draw for next year.

The 12th placed Hawks must play two teams that finished in the top six on the ladder this season while Essendon, which finished four places higher on the ladder, plays only one team from this year's top bracket of teams.

The draw is broken up each year into three segments – top, middle and bottom six teams based on ladder positions from the year before – and where you finish on the ladder determines how many sides you play from each segment in the next season.

The Hawks twice play Geelong and Sydney which are both from the top bracket, Essendon and St Kilda twice from the middle bracket and only one side, Brisbane, from the bottom bracket of teams twice.