Of all the teams in the league Hawthorn are the least likely to be found sitting on their haunches. The back to back to back was set up on proactive trade and free-agency moves to secure the signatures of Shaun Burgoyne, Jack Gunston, Brian Lake and James Frawley. They shocked the footy world with their 2016 off-season. When many clubs would be hitting the draft after such an era of success they chased Swan Tom Mitchell and Sun Jaegar O’Meara. These two now make up the better portion of their midfield but it’s looking like it isn’t enough to make them the next premiership team. Will the Hawks land a big fish this off-season?

Hawthorn had to win Saturday night to make the 8 against fellow outsider GWS. Though soundly beaten at stoppages (51 clearances to 28) and stomped in the clinches (190 contested possessions to 135) the Hawks battled manfully to lose by only 11 points. Tom Mitchell even recorded an incredible 50 disposals for the third time in his career, two more than any other player ever. From what was once a team bursting with talent along every line has become one with too much left to too few.

So who do the Hawks look to? The first answer is obvious and it is one that has been connected with Hawthorn already, Gold Coast superstar, Tom Lynch. He won’t fix their thin midfield but he’ll take over from Jarryd Roughead just as the legend retires. Hawthorn also has aerial problems, they took just three contested marks to GWS’s twelve on Saturday. Lynch obviously has a massive dollar sign floating above his head and the Hawks generally prefer to diversify their portfolio than invest in just the one blue chip. But whatever way you cut it Hawthorn are still a good destination and will likely test Collingwood in selling Lynch his future in Victoria.

The other name Hawthorn is linked to is Rory Sloane. Sloane would be a great fit for the Hawks. No midfielder in the AFL works as hard defensively as him, Sloane and Mitchell spreading from contests is a nightmare for opposition coaches. The knock on Rory is that he is suffering from a lisfranc injury in his foot and is turning 29 which might be outside of Hawthorn’s preferred age bracket going forward. But what happened the last time the Hawks brought over an ageing player with injury woes from an Adelaide club? His name is Shaun Burgoyne and he helped win them three flags.

There’s much to play out in this season of course. Lynch and Sloane could both re-sign and the Hawks could have players break out, they could even win the flag, footy is so hard to predict these days. One thing is for certain though the Hawks won’t leave 2018 behind wondering.