HAWTHORN chief executive Ash Klein says moving home games to New Zealand is currently "not a consideration" as the club looks at options with its fixture after being kicked out of Tasmania by the AFL.

The League earlier this season decided 2027 would be the last year Hawthorn, which is sponsored by the Tasmanian government, would play home games in the state as the Devils prepare to enter the competition in 2028.

Next year will mark an end to a 26-year stint of playing home games in Tasmania, with the Hawks creating a home away from home and having a 76 per cent winning rate over 90 games at Launceston.

The Hawks' football department has encouraged its administration to see if there are any suitable alternatives, with Wellington and Cairns mooted. Darwin is not on the Hawks' radar. 

"We haven't had any discussions with anyone in New Zealand so at the moment it's not a consideration. We'll always look to see what's going to make our club better but I haven't had any discussions to date," Klein told AFL.com.au.

"Cairns pops up a fair bit for us because we made a strategic decision a few years ago with our AFLW program and they love it up there. It's our third year up there and it works really well for them, but we haven't had any consideration around that for our men's program to date."

Klein said next season would serve as a "celebratory year" for the Hawks in Tasmania, having been a key part of the club's four premierships between 2008-2015. 

"We've focused on bringing games back to Melbourne. We'll always consider various options," he said. 

"The key stakeholders in any of our decision making is our members, our footy department, and we've got a 75 per cent win-loss ratio down there (in Tasmania), so it's been extraordinary. 

"They're always going to look for a significant strategic advantage and put that question to me and others. Then the other part is keeping the club really financially strong. When [former Hawks president] Ian Dicker and others made the decision to do that 25 years ago, it put Hawthorn in a great position off the field as well so all these things come into consideration."

Klein said the Hawks would be open to playing against the Devils in round one of 2028 if Tasmania applied to have them as their inaugural opponents given their supporter base in the state, but that maintaining Essendon as their season- opener would be priority given that tradition is four years in. 

"We're probably keen to keep that game as our opener between the two clubs, but if the Devils decide to put that as their submission we'll take that on board," Klein said. 

As the Hawks vie to lock in a top-four spot for the first time since 2018, Klein, who took over the role in 2023 after being the club's long-term chief commercial officer, spoke with AFL.com.au about the future of Hawthorn, their aggressive recruiting raids, the next stage of their Dingley build and the changing nature of AFL fandom. 

INSIDE MITCHELL'S MAGIC

SAM Mitchell's recent re-signing to the end of 2030 – making him the game's longest contracted coach outside of new Tasmania signing Ken Hinkley – came as Hawthorn heads into another September tilt in the mix for a premiership. 

A win in Saturday night's clash with Collingwood would go a long way to sealing a double chance for the Hawks, whose rapid rebuild has set the club up for a sustainable run at success.

ROUND 23 Get your seats to Hawks v Pies

Mitchell's negotiations on a new deal ramped up in recent weeks and he is widely viewed as one of, if not the, club's greatest asset.

"Sam's always had a drive. He's obviously done that as a player from the moment he walked into the football club to when he finished, but what people probably don't see is his care and support to not only those around him like his coaches, but obviously the players," Klein said.

"When people think someone is driven, it means that they are single-minded and can have the blinkers on whereas Sam is the complete opposite. He's thinking about what's best for the football club, what's best for the program and ultimately what's best for his players and his coaching group.

"He's a great asset to our football club and certainly guides our direction moving forward."

Last week's loss to Brisbane at the Gabba was uncharacteristically poor from the Hawks, but Klein said the group had shown over several years its capacity to bounce back as it battles five teams chasing third or fourth position on the ladder. 

"A lot of these guys have now played consistently with each other across about four or five years, some even more so. They deserve a top-four finish but that doesn't mean it's going to be gifted to them. They're going to have to work hard across the next two weeks to do so," he said. 

DESTINATION STATUS '50 YEARS IN THE MAKING' 

DESTINATION status returned to Hawthorn several years ago, as the club emerged from its swift rebuild to hit the market in multiple off-seasons. But the Hawks also have their eyes on retention, including the priority signature of Will Day next year. 

Josh Battle and Tom Barrass chose the Hawks in 2024, following the likes of Jack Ginnivan, Mabior Chol and Massimo D'Ambrosio. Last year Zach Merrett wanted to come but Essendon blocked a move, but the Bombers star is again keen to join the Hawks and free agent Ben King is headed for Hawthorn after eight years at Gold Coast.

Klein wouldn't be drawn on specific names keen to get to the Hawks, but King and Merrett's hopes of joining the brown and gold follow a long tradition of the club targeting rival stars. 

"It's 50-plus years in the making of Hawthorn being a destination club and it's a responsibility of myself and others to ensure that continues," Klein said.

The Hawks boss said the club had reviewed last year's trade period miss on Merrett, who had two years remaining on his deal but was desperate to join the Hawks.

"Every trade period we go through a pretty thorough process as to what landed and what didn't. Last year wasn't any different to other years. Sometimes you have success but when you're dealing in trading for players who are potentially contracted to other clubs, there's always going to be markers where sometimes you can get a deal done then there's times when there's others," he said.

"There was nothing specifically that we did differently in the post analysis [out of last year]."

As it rises up the ladder and continues to attract big names, Hawthorn is confident it is well placed to retain its growing list of stars, including Day, who reaches free agency next year.

Day was the subject of major interest last time he was out of contract in 2023, including a huge offer from Adelaide, but is focused on playing consistent games after another injury-hit season before entering early talks.

"Will's an incredible bloke. He's not only a great person and a fantastic player, but he's also a great leader within our footy club," Klein said.

"He's had a horror run of injuries that not many in the league have faced and every time he's hit that adversity front on and really challenged himself to get back fitter and better. 

"We haven't got into the conversation yet but we don't expect Will to be going anywhere. He wants to play footy first and foremost and that was the biggest focus for us and him this year."

The Hawks' forward line squeeze could see Calsher Dear depart the club, with Melbourne, Geelong and Collingwood among the clubs pursuing the tall forward. Hawthorn has tabled a two-year offer to keep him. 

"We're keen to keep him. He's such a young talented player. I think with young forwards in particular, you need to be patient," he said.

"We understand there's interest out there for him. But we're keen to retain him and work with his management team accordingly." 

WIND NETS COMING TO DINGLEY

HAWTHORN will install netting at its training oval over the off-season in a bid to cut down the impact of wind at its new Kennedy Community Centre home in Dingley.

The open expanses of the Hawks' new home have made for many windy training days since they moved into the facility at the end of last year, but a solution is on the way.

"It's something we always knew was a consideration. We built it in great time and didn't have any issues or cost blowouts, so it took us about 18 months to build it as opposed to about two years," Klein said.

"Then once you get into any new place there's going to be some nuances with it, and we knew that the wind was going to be a consideration but we wanted to come in and work out what that looked like. Yes, netting was always a consideration but we wanted to move in first then work out the best location for it.  

"I would imagine across the off-season we'll be implementing [nets], so that it doesn't impact the programs.

"There's people working on it and have been working on it for about six months now, making sure that we have the best system and the best operation in place. It'll be netting around the oval and possibly even the AFLW oval."

Hawthorn believes its $110 million facility is the best in the country, underpinned by two ovals and dedicated AFLW facilities, and its next building stage is focused on an indoor community sports centre with basketball courts and medical facilities. 

"Our players just love being here. They come in for the pre-season and are probably spending more hours here and time during the season because of the amenities and what we have on offer," Klein said.

"In terms of clubs and teams across all codes, we want it to be the pre-eminent sporting precinct. We own the land, we own everything we've built and we don't have any debt as a result and we want to grow and expand that." 

'IT'S A COMPLETELY SHIFTING LANDSCAPE' 

KLEIN is a low-key club chief executive who is not front and centre and rarely does media interviews. But his ascension to the role at the end of 2023 coincided with Hawthorn exploding as an in-your-face, modern, social media friendly club that opened the doors and brought supporters with them.

And that has led to a unique wave of fans engaging with Hawthorn, who just broke through the 90,000 member milestone for the first time.

The Hawks have noticed that the next generation of supporters are following the individual brands and profiles of the likes of Nick Watson and Jack Ginnivan. Where 'The Wizard' goes, many follow, and the club's merchandise store is often sold out of wizard hats and paraphernalia. It has the club embracing a new model of supporting teams.

"I'm big on that," Klein said. "I think the American model, whether it's the NBA in particular, the people often follow the player and then they go and support the club. And so the jersey sales and so on come as a result of the player movement.

"We've seen that over the last few years in the industry and we've certainly seen it at Hawthorn. People becoming fans of Nick Watson and therefore are coming across and supporting Hawthorn. The same with Jack Ginnivan and we've got some other great players as well, like Jarman Impey, who are so well loved in the footy community.

"It's a completely shifting landscape. Trades are happening more than they have previously and then as a result you're getting the players and you've got to embrace the personalities.

"Geelong have done that with Bailey Smith and we think we do that with our players as well. I think the game's better for it."