Hawthorn football director Richie Vandenberg has defended the Hawks' list cuts, admitting that the club had to sacrifice older stars to enhance their rebuild.
The Hawks finished in 13th place in 2022, their first season under Sam Mitchell, and saw a host of familiar faces - Ben McEvoy, Liam Shiels, Jack Gunston, Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O'Meara - depart the club through trade and retirement.
Lloyd Meek and Cooper Stephens were welcomed to the club in the trade period, as was free agent Karl Amon, while the Hawks also hold Pick 6 in the upcoming National Draft.
Despite losing a combined 1400 games of experience, Vandenberg is confident the club made the right choice to continue building a premiership list, revealing so in an interview with the Herald Sun.
“When people comment on how deep we have cut, I would just ask people to look at it from this perspective. We have elder statesmen like Ben McEvoy retire and Liam Shiels move on, Jack Gunston decided he wants to go and have one last crack at a premiership, and then proactively we needed to find a way to replace Ben McEvoy,” Vandenberg said.
“(Lloyd Meek) had 10 clubs to choose from and he chose us. And we needed to unlock that deal through a great servant of the club in Jaeger, who is in a different stage in his career to where the football club is at. That is a very good trade for us.
“Same goes for (former No.16 draft pick) Cooper Stephens and the Tom Mitchell deal, unlocking the Tom Mitchell deal through getting Cooper Stephens. So we have brought two new people in plus Karl Amon, three strong players from culturally strong clubs. I can't think of any other ways to unlock that for the long-term vision we have got to set ourselves up to get back into the right place to contend for premierships.”
Despite some discontent from brown and gold fans following the trade period, Vandenberg has urged them not to be concerned, conceding that their now-replaced 2022 midfield didn't reach epic highs.
“And this is not to pot anyone within the football club or any players from last year. But our midfield group last year was rated statistically 18th in the league,” he said.
“If you look at the guys who have retired and Jaeger and Tom, our midfield group has not been able to fire over the last couple of years.
“It is not like we are moving on a midfield which is the most successful midfield in the league. We all understand the risks we are taking and we are owning the risks we have taken. Our members should understand that.”
