Mitchell would be Collingwood-bound,provided the Hawks could reach terms with their old list manager and football boss Graham Wright. Usually,when clubs are quibbling about picks between the low 40s and mid or late 20s,an accommodation will be reached.
Usually,when a player is entertaining two clubs at once,like O’Meara,the result is that he leaves.
Gunston has landed in Brisbane,walking from a team that is only midway through what has become a near-total list reconstruction to play with a contending team that also hopes to snare Josh Dunkley.
Gunston’s exit,and the retirement of Ben McEvoy,means that the Hawks will begin 2023 with only one player left from their 2015 premiership team:Luke Breust.
If this seems the natural order,given the turnover of all teams,bear in mind that Hawthorn’s grand final opponents for the three-peat premiership,West Coast,will have nine players remaining from that grand final side next year:Jeremy McGovern,Nic Naitanui,Elliott Yeo,Luke Shuey,Shannon Hurn,Dom Sheed,Jack Darling and Andrew Gaff.
So,the Hawks are clearing the decks. But this is not a firesale,in the style of Collingwood two years ago,since there is no imperative to get under the salary cap.
Rather,Mitchell and the Hawks are taking a hard-headed and long-term view,willing to offload virtually anyone who’s around 30,assuming they carry decent draft currency (Gunston is 30,Mitchell 30 in May,and O’Meara turns 29 in February).