Hawthorn and what two-time reigning champs do

When you are the two time defending and reigning premiers natural progression would suggest that other teams are going to be looking at you as a benchmark and for the inside running on how to build a champion team.

Unfortunately for those clubs looking at Hawthorn in terms of the draft though, they do relatively little.

They had their draft wins over a decade ago and have now simply focused on maintaining through other off-season tools like trading and free agency.

The Hawthorn draft story was about nailing a number of key top picks in two key drafts and from there adding the pieces and making sure the right experience and depth was on the list to encourage ongoing growth.

Hawthorn are the only example of a team that fell to the bottom only to rise back better than they were before. Whether it has been winning or losing, they maximised what they were getting.

So for that reason, as much as everyone might be looking at Hawthorn for the answers, it was not what they did in the 2014 draft but more what they did in those earlier drafts to build a perennial winner that is more important.

But while it may not be as important a draft for Hawthorn, there are still lessons to be learned from what they did do and achieve from the draft.

As has become the recent trend for Hawthorn, the draft has been about building for the future and under the knowledge that all their draft players will be project players.

For players drafted to Hawthorn it is a bittersweet moment, the sweetness in that they are joining an all conquering team in the short term, the bitterness in the knowledge that they are likely set to spend the best part of two to three seasons plying their trade in the VFL.

They say sport is circular and like was the case 30 years ago when Hawthorn premiership stars were forced to wait, this group of Hawthorn players are set to wait as well.

In 2015 and possibly beyond those three players that will be toiling away at lower level while learning AFL lessons from some of the best will be Murray Bushrangers defender Daniel Howe, Geelong Falcons small player Teia Miles and Oakleigh Chargers ruckman Mark Pittonet.

The key trait that you can see among this trio is the competitiveness that they play with. They are all talented players but importantly want to win. Winning is of course what Hawthorn has done best for nearly a decade.

Howe could be seen as a long term replacement for the likes of Josh Gibson and Brian Lake with real strength in the air, an area that Hawthorn defenders have excelled in recently.

Pittonet has shown to be an outstanding tap ruckman and Hawthorn likely have hopes that in the future he will put pressure on both Jon Ceglar and Ben McEvoy. Miles is probably the most interesting prospect of the trio considering that his best position at AFL is a little bit of an unknown. He has talent and has shown he can play anywhere over the field.

For Hawthorn though the draft is always prospects. They do their winning elsewhere, trade week, free agency, on field and in premierships.

Life is sweet to be a two-time reigning premier.