IT IS a strike rate Adam Gilchrist would be proud of.

Hawthorn's team on Friday night contained 10 players from other clubs as rival recruits, and all of them have struck (brown and) gold for their new club.

The additions of Tom Barrass and Josh Battle immediately paid dividends against Sydney at the SCG, allowing James Sicily to shift forward and be crucial in the Hawks' 20-point win. 

But that continued a run of recruiting in recent years that have amounted to the Hawks doing things their way in their sharp ascent back into premiership contention.

Barrass (West Coast), Battle (St Kilda), Karl Amon (Port Adelaide), Mabior Chol (Gold Coast), Massimo D'Ambrosio (Essendon), Jack Ginnivan (Collingwood), Lloyd Meek (Fremantle), Jack Scrimshaw (Gold Coast), Jarman Impey (Port Adelaide) and Sam Frost (Melbourne) all arrived at Waverley via other clubs. 

All bar Impey (2017), Scrimshaw (2018) and Frost (2019) have been recruited in the 2022-24 period for Hawthorn, which managed to hit the market without losing its draft focus during its rapid rebuild, using six first-round picks between 2019 (Will Day) and 2023 (Nick Watson). 

Hawthorn's 10 players from other clubs was the second most of Opening Round, behind Collingwood's 11. Sydney had four, while Greater Western Sydney had three play against the Magpies. 

While Barrass and Battle made strong first impressions against the Swans, it was Meek who was one of the most important traded-in players in the win with a stirring performance against Sydney big man Brodie Grundy.

Meek's trade to the Hawks came as the club jettisoned plenty of its midfield experience in the 2022 Trade Period, with the former Docker (plus a future second-round pick) being traded for Jaeger O'Meara and a future fourth-round pick. 

The future second-round pick was then part of the package the Hawks used to move up the board on draft night to select exciting versatile talent Josh Weddle. 

The past five premiership sides have averaged six players in each team that came via another club, with Brisbane having seven in last year's triumph and Collingwood having nine the previous year. Geelong (six), Melbourne (five) and Richmond (four) were lower in their total of rival recruits in their Grand Final wins this decade.

Sam Mitchell's Hawks eyed a point of difference when they shed experience for draft capital at the end of his first season, but their plan relied on making those draft picks count and then finding the right players to complement them. Battle and Barrass were the first major coups, following some more targeted signings in D'Ambrosio, Meek, Scrimshaw and Ginnivan, and the Hawks' model is one other building clubs will be chasing to copy.