The trade period is over for another year, with plenty of players and draft picks swapping clubs, but it's clear that Hawthorn is the big loser of the trade period this year.
Hawthorn lost three players, and went down a draft spot in the first round in a pick swap with Carlton that didn't end up enventuating into anything meaningful
The biggest loss for the Hawks was missing out on Essendon captain Zach Merrett, with the Bombers refusing to accept a trade offer from the Hawks.
If Merrett was traded, the Hawks would nearly be premiership favourites heading into next year, and they did offer three first-round picks for Merrett, but missed out on him with the Dons wanting four first-rounders.
MORE: The AFL club that is the big winner of the trade period
The Hawks lost depth with Changkuoth Jiath and James Worpel leaving the club, with both players named in their preliminary final team that lost to Geelong by 30 points.
Jai Serong was also traded with Sydney, taking a chance on the 22-year-old key defender who won the Box Hill Hawks (Hawthorn's VFL team) best and fairest.
Hawks national recruiting and list manager Mark McKenzie is confident that Hawks have put themselves in a good position for this year, but the jury remains out.
“We have put ourselves in a great position for this year’s draft, but then to go again next year,” McKenzie said after the trade deadline.
“We want to be aggressive. We haven’t made a secret out of the fact that we wanted to go after high-end talent players... That will happen again, whether it is next year or the year after that.”
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell was pretty adamant the club needed to improve after their preliminary final loss.
"It's not just because we've got to be better than we were. Even if we're the same as we are this year, that's not going to be enough to make the eight next year. The game goes forward every year. We've got progress to make," he said in his press conference after the finals loss.
Well, the Hawks have lost three players who provide depth and went down a spot in the draft; according to Mitchell's words, they are at risk of missing the eight next year.
Hawthorn ins: pick 10, pick 22, R2 2026 (Sydney)
Hawthorn outs: James Worpel (Geelong), Changkuoth Jiath (Melbourne), Jai Serong (Sydney), Pick 9, Pick 31, R4 2026
Hawthorn draft picks: Pick 10, pick 22, pick 62, pick 76, pick 94, pick 112