Kennett makes Hawthorn trade prediction, clarifies meaning behind letter

Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett doesn’t expect any senior players to depart the club before Wednesday night’s trade deadline.

Kennett hinted that the club could be prepared to make a surprise move in the final days of the trade period in a letter to members last week, with SEN Chief Sports Reporter Sam Edmund later revealing that new coach Sam Mitchell had personally contacted rivals to enquire whether they’d be any interest in several of the club’s senior players.

Despite the tone of Kennett’s letter, he said that several senior names had now re-affirmed their commitment to the Hawks and didn’t expect any senior players to depart.

“I have not had anyone in the football department come to me and say anyone is tradeable,” he said on Sportsday.

“I haven’t heard from the football department at all, with 24 hours to go I would suspect there will be no trades (of our senior players).

“A number of our senior players have all said they want to stay at Hawthorn which I think is wonderful and it shows to me that they have great confidence in their coaches and what they’ve seen in our younger playing group.

“I wrote in that letter just to make sure that (fans) could understand that any decisions were made for the right reasons and by the right people.

“But I haven’t heard a word.”

While the likes of Tom Mitchell, Chad Wingard, Luke Breust and Jack Gunston appearing to be off the table, ruckman Jonathon Ceglar appears likely to move to Geelong on the final day of the trade period.