DESPITE winning its eleventh premiership just a week ago, Hawthorn is wasting no time in turning its attention to season 2014.
Senior Coach Alastair Clarkson and High Performance Coach David Rath are in the UK on study tours, while Assistant Coach Brendon Bolton and Box Hill Coach Damian Caroll are in the US and Brett Ratten will also soon undertake study in America.
That doesn’t mean though the Club, its players and coaches haven’t sat back and enjoyed achieving premiership success in 2013.
There has certainly been time for that in the immediate aftermath of the victory, which included a trip to Tasmania to celebrate the flag with its Tassie Hawks members and supporters.
“It’s important we enjoy the success of our eleventh premiership but one of the great challenges we will have is refocusing our energy into achieving some great things next year as well,” Chief Executive Stuart Fox told hawthornfc.com.au
“History shows it’s hard to go back-to-back and a lot of people in recent weeks have been saying let’s go back-to-back (but) it’s important we enjoy this one first and then refocus.
“We’ve got a coach who won’t enjoy it for too long and he’s already headed overseas to get some ideas and bring back some innovations.
“Alastair himself will refocus very quickly, our players obviously have a break and hopefully when we walk back through the doors, we’re refocusing on next year because it presents another great opportunity for us.”
But that doesn’t mean the Club isn’t enjoying the flag while too, keeping an eye on the future.
“Winning the cup means everything; it’s such a special thing,” Fox said.
“It’s what we strive for at work, it’s everything we work for. It’s the ultimate goal, it’s the ultimate success.
“It’s just great for our people and great for our stakeholders and to be able to reward them for their hard work.”
Winning this year’s premiership was a relief as much as it was excitement after the disappointment of the 2012 Grand Final loss.
The Hawks were beaten by the Swans in last year’s decider, with many labelling it a lost opportunity and one that only added pressure on the Club to achieve success in 2013 with its current group of players.
Fox admits it was a tough year for the Club.
“The fact we lost the 2012 Grand Final, it put pressure on us publicly from the football world,” he said.
“Most people believe we’ve had a list ready to go and ready for success so it was a tough year because of the expectation but also we had a really tough start to the year with the fixture, which presented challenges.”
The Hawks lost only three matches for the year – twice falling to Geelong and once to Richmond late in the year.
That statistic is one of Fox’s highlights of 2013 as is the “emotional” Preliminary Final win over the Cats before achieving the ultimate.
But what’s more special for him is the way in which the club achieved its success in 2013 – with a one in, all in attitude.
“There is no one person who contributes to a premiership, we’ve got a one in, all in philosophy at Hawthorn and that’s one of the great things about our workplace,” he said.
They were truly a happy team at Hawthorn in 2013.
