A young and exciting Hawthorn outfit could be set for a steep trajectory of improvement in 2023, according to General Manager of Football Rob McCartney.

Speaking to Hawks Insiders, McCartney stressed although this season will importantly serve as another step in development, the hunger shown by Hawthorn’s talented group has many buoyant about the year ahead.

“If we can continue to develop this group, I think the second half of the year will be better in terms of win-loss,” McCartney said.

“Could we win games that people don’t expect us to win early in the season? Too right we could.

“This group has a real strong belief in that they are going to be the players to play in the next premiership - they’re hell bent on making that happen as quick as they can.”

Hawthorn will start the season with only six players aged 27 or older after implementing a bold list-regeneration strategy, headlined by five top-30 draft selections over the past two years.

While investing games into talented young Hawks remains a key focus, a great deal of importance is being placed on driving high standards across the entire playing group.

“It’s not a development phase where games are gifted, it’s a development phase where games are earned – and you have to play well to keep your spot,” McCartney said.

“You have to build talent, and then you have to be able to retain talent.

“The way you retain it is having a good environment and a good culture, where everyone knows what the plan is and absolutely believes in it and is driven to achieve it.”

McCartney acknowledged the road back to the top will likely be a winding one, however the speed at which Hawthorn gets there is ultimately determined by the attitude of those on the field.

“The bit about no speed limits is that the players are setting that themselves,” he said.

“They (players) are saying to us we are keen to be successful, we’ve seen what success looks like at this football club and we want a piece of it – we will train really hard and work really hard and do all the extras that will give us every chance to be successful as quickly as we can.”