Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes has questioned the roles several senior Hawthorn figures will play in 2022, with the club likely to remain outside the finals frame this season.
The Hawks enter the new year in the midst of a list rebuild, with newly-appointed senior coach Sam Mitchell likely to endure a difficult opening campaign in his return to the club.
Despite their prospects for the year ahead, the Hawks are home to several veterans who won't be part of their future planning under Mitchell, with the club having also reportedly shopped a quartet of blue-chip players during last year's trade window.
Contracts Hawks star Jaeger O'Meara told 7 News last week he might've assessed his options at Waverley should an appealing trade emerge for both parties, while teammates Tom Mitchell, Chad Wingard and Jack Gunston also faced conjecture around their future.
O'Meara's comments and the list demographic Hawthorn will carry into the 2022 season has left Cornes "fascinated" by their position for this year, telling SEN the club will need to settle any issues that remain from the off-season ahead of a likely finals-less campaign.
“You can read as much or as little into that comment (of O’Meara’s) as you like," Cornes said on SEN.
"This is why I’m fascinated by Hawthorn, you’ve got a team with a lot of senior players that have zero chance to win a premiership while they are still at that club.
"You’ve got the club that was very happy to shop them around in the trade period and try and force them out the door to accelerate this rebuild and were unsuccessful in doing so and getting anything happening during the trade period.
"Now they have to turn up for day one of preseason at a club they know they have zero chance of not only winning a premiership, but not even playing a final.
“How is that going to go down?”
Hawks skipper Ben McEvoy is among the quintet of players above 30 years of age heading into this season, joining Luke Bruest, Liam Shiels, Kyle Hartigan and the aforementioned Gunston.
O'Meara, Wingard and Mitchell will all be 28 years of age come Round 1, with the trio all finishing within the top five for the Peter Crimmins Medal last year.
The Hawks have seen promising development from a number of junior players across the course of the past 24 months, headlined by Changkuoth Jiath, Dylan Moore, James Worpel and Jack Scrimshaw.
Hawthorn will carry the third youngest list into 2022, however have the 12th most experienced squad in the league.
