HAWTHORN has locked away another star player, with forward Jarryd Roughead signing a contract extension.

The Hawks forward still has a year to run on his current contract, but has committed to a further two seasons at the Club.

Speaking to hawthornfc.com.au about his contract extension, the 26 year old speaks with genuine passion and love for the club that drafted him as a 17 year old in 2004.

Roughead’s new deal extends his time at Hawthorn to 12 years and all but confirms he’ll play out his career in the brown and gold.

He will be 29 when his next contract ends, at the end of 2016.

The Hawks star says it was a “no brainer” to sign and doesn’t anticipate playing elsewhere when this new deal expires.

“Any time you get to extend your footy career, it’s always a good feeling and now I suppose I can say I’ll be a one club player,” he told hawthornfc.com.au

“Hawthorn have been very good to me, I came here when I was a 17 year old and when this deal is up I’ll be 29 - 12 or 13 years goes pretty quickly.

“For them to show faith in me, it was pretty much a no brainer (to sign).

“When I’m 29 turning 30 I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere else.”

He hopes the success of the current group will culminate on the last Saturday in September this year, after the disappointing end to season 2012.

“It shows faith in the group that we’ve got - we’ve got a pretty special group even though we had a bit of bad luck last year,” he said.

“The people we’ve got in and the group we’ve got around us, hopefully we can go one step further this year and win it all.”

The Club is in a strong position both on and off the field and that’s something Roughead says he’s proud to be part of.

“Nine years ago when I arrived the Club was still rebuilding in a sense and now we’re arguably one of the strongest clubs in the league, which is something to be proud of,” he said.

It’s strong on field position, however, is credit to Alastair Clarkson, his recruiters and the culture the players have built under the leadership of Clarkson and Captain, Luke Hodge.

The playing group has built a unique trust amongst itself, which helps the team play better football.

“If everyone is on the same page and you’ve got trust within your teammates, you know each week you’re going to be running out there with 21 blokes that are really good mates.

“(You also) have trust in them to know they’ll do the right thing on the footy field, which gives not only us, but everyone confidence.

“From when I first started it (the culture) has only got better. The fact we can get quality people wanting to come to our club just proves how good our culture is and can be.

“That’s a real positive knowing that people from other teams want to come to us and play good footy.”

Roughead understands the new era of Free Agency, with players likely to move from club to club more frequently in the near future, but that never entered his mind.

He says being awarded Life Membership at last year’s Annual General Meeting with teammates Lance Franklin, Jordan Lewis, Brad Sewell and Grant Birchall was a “special” moment in his nine-year career so far.

“You understand with Free Agency these days that AFL footy is starting to turn a bit like a business,” he said.

“We’re probably going to be the last generation of people that are going to be playing at one club with the amount of movement going around.

“The five of us last year got Life Membership, which was something pretty special and now to say a lot of us are going to be playing together for the next five or so years, it’s going to be good fun.”

Hawthorn Recruiting and List Manager Graham Wright says Roughead is an important leader and player for the Hawks.

“We're wrapped that Jarryd has committed himself to Hawthorn for a further 2 years,” Wright told hawthornfc.com.au

“Jarryd wasn't out of contract until the end of 2014 so adding 2 years takes him to 2016 which would be 12 years at Hawthorn.

“His diligence to rehab from a serious achilles injury last year was rewarded with a fantastic on-field return, at 26 years of age he's an important leader of our football club.”