HAWTHORN didn't land a big name recruit last season for the first time in eight years, but the club says it doesn't have huge salary cap space to chase a star during this year's exchange period.
The Hawks made a late bid for departing Essendon defender Jake Carlisle during last year's trade period before a deal was finally struck to send the key backman to St Kilda.
It left the Hawks without a high profile addition last year for the first time since 2008 and has some clubs believing the triple reigning premiers are in a position to strike during this off-season with ample salary cap space.
But Hawthorn list manager Graham Wright told AFL.com.au's Road to the Draft podcast the club was waiting to see how much the new broadcasting rights deal would lift the salary cap from 2017 and beyond.
LISTEN: Graham Wright joins Road to the Draft
"We're hopeful the cap goes up a little bit next year but I wouldn't say we've got great space. We've got a lot of players who are high quality players who command reasonable money and they should, so I wouldn't have thought we've got a lot of cap space," Wright said.
The Hawks have been linked to out-of-contract Gold Coast midfielder Jaeger O'Meara, who has put off talks with the club as he recovers from a serious knee injury suffered before the 2015 season.
The Rising Star winner hasn't played since suffering that setback, but the Hawks have been one of a number of Victorian clubs thought to be keen to make a pitch for the 22-year-old.
"We're like everyone else and sitting back and seeing what happens with all players at all clubs and whether there's opportunities for us," Wright said.
"He (O’Meara) hasn't played a lot of footy for a long time now, and I'm unsure where he's at in relation to playing any time soon so it's a difficult one."
Hawthorn's late pitch for Carlisle showed its intent to add another key defender to its stocks, but Wright said he expects banned Bomber Michael Hurley to stay with Essendon.
Hurley is contracted until the end of 2017 but is yet to confirm his intentions beyond this year.
"From my understanding I think Michael will stay. It’s a bit hard when you're talking about players who are contracted at other clubs to say too much, but that would be my understanding," Wright said.
The Hawks added James Frawley via free agency at the end of 2014, which saw Melbourne awarded a first-round draft pick (No.3 overall) as compensation for losing the senior backman.
Wright acknowledged that the compensation system had a role in the competition's equalisation policy, but believes the first round of the NAB AFL Draft should not be impacted by compensation selections.
"I'd prefer the first round untouched so that there's [no compensation] inside picks 1-18. No.1 is the team that finished bottom and No.18 is the premiership team and there's nothing in between. From my point of view I'd prefer it if [the compensation] was at the end of the first round," Wright said.
"You don't want to move back one place in the draft and especially early in the draft. I'm not quite sure [about] aligning a free agent to a ladder position. I'm not quite sure I agree with that."
