HAWTHORN'S potential next captain will remain in brown and gold until at least the 2022 season. 

Midfielder Liam Shiels, considered a frontrunner with Isaac Smith to be Jarryd Roughead's successor as skipper, was set to come out of contract at the end of next season. 

The 27-year-old, who served as a joint vice-captain with Smith the past two years, has agreed to terms on a fresh three-year deal.

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Shiels enjoyed a strong 2018 campaign, averaging a career-high 23.1 disposals (eight contested) to go with 6.5 tackles, 4.2 inside 50s and four clearances. 

The triple premiership-winner was also named the Hawks' best finals player after accumulating 49 possessions in losses to Richmond and Melbourne.

Hawthorn's football boss Graham Wright was pleased to lock away one of the club's key midfielders ahead of what looms as a busy year of list management at Waverley Park.

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"He has been a terrific contributor over the past 10 years, and he sets a great example for his teammates both on and off the field," Wright said of Shiels.

"Liam is 27 and would have been an unrestricted free agent next year.

"From a club perspective, it was important to lock him into a long-term deal that could see him finish his career here at Hawthorn."

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Shiels was the No.34 pick in the 2008 AFL Draft out of the Eastern Ranges and has since played 186 games, qualifying him for Hawks life membership last year. 

He made his debut in Round 10, 2009 against Adelaide while still in Year 12 at Aquinas College.

Shiels has played in seven finals series for Hawthorn and has developed a reputation as a fierce tackler and one of Alastair Clarkson's most trusted and consistent players.

The Hawks still have 30 players coming out of contract next year, including Jaeger O'Meara, Roughead, Grant Birchall, Ben Stratton, Shaun Burgoyne, Ben McEvoy and James Frawley, but if the pressure of securing new deals is weighing on the players' heads they weren't showing it this week.

Torrential rains made conditions at the club's end-of-year training camp on the Sunshine Coast slippery to say the least, but the players didn't let the big wet dampen their spirits, quickly organising a competition to see who could slide furthest across the sodden ground.