2017 Hawthorn Football Club season

The 2017 AFL season is the 121st season of the VFL/AFL competition since its inception in 1897; having entered the competition in 1925, it was the 93rd season contested by the Hawthorn Football Club. Tasmania and iiNet continued as the club's two major sponsors, as they had done since 2006 and 2013 respectively,^[1][2] while Adidas continued to manufacture the club's on-and-off field apparel, as they had done since 2013.^[3] Hawthorn continued its alignment with the Box Hill Hawks Football Club in the Victorian Football League, allowing Hawthorn-listed players to play with the Box Hill Hawks when not selected in AFL matches.

Alastair Clarkson continued as the club's head coach for the thirteenth consecutive season. In a surprise announcement, Jarryd Roughead replaced Luke Hodge as the club's captain on 20 January 2017 after the latter had led the club since 2011.^[4]

It was announced in December 2016 that Stuart Fox would leave his position as the club's Chief Executive Officer to take up the same position with the Melbourne Cricket Club at the end of February 2017.^[5] On 1 May, Tracey Gaudry was appointed the club's new CEO.^[6]

The club played three practice matches as part of the 2017 JLT Community Series, and will be played under modified pre-season rules, including nine-point goals.

The full fixture was announced on 27 October 2016.^[21] The Melbourne Cricket Ground once again acted as Hawthorn's primary home ground, hosting six of the club's eleven home games, with four home games played at their secondary home ground, University of Tasmania Stadium, in Launceston, and one home game played at Etihad Stadium against the Western Bulldogs in round 23.^[22] The club's opponents for the four games in Launceston were St Kilda, Brisbane Lions, Greater Western Sydney and North Melbourne in rounds six, eight, 16 and 21 respectively, while the club played Adelaide, Collingwood, Geelong, Gold Coast and Sydney twice during the regular season.^[21]

The Hawks began the 2017 season with a 25-point loss to Essendon, which welcomed six of its banned players back from a season-long suspension which had spanned the entire 2016 season, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round one;^[23] due to the weighted rule, it was the only time the clubs met during the regular season. The club's first home game came the following round, when it hosted 2016 finalists Adelaide at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round two.^[21] It travelled to Adelaide twice for matches against Port Adelaide and Adelaide (for a second time) in rounds 11 and 14 respectively, while it also travelled to the Gold Coast, Sydney and Perth once each, in rounds three, ten and eighteen respectively. Additionally, it played three Friday night matches (two against Sydney and one against the Western Bulldogs) and two Thursday night matches (both at the Adelaide Oval) during the regular season, while ten of the club's 21 matches were broadcast on free-to-air.^[21]

Based on its finishing position from 2016, Hawthorn's fixture was rated the second-most difficult (only behind Greater Western Sydney) by The Age; it was the fifth consecutive season in which it has been dealt either the most or second-most difficult fixture of any club.^[24]

• Peter Crimmins Medal: Tom Mitchell
• All-Australian team: Tom Mitchell
• 22 Under 22 team: Ryan Burton, James Sicily

• Round 7:
  • Alastair Clarkson won his 182nd game as coach, which is the most of any Hawthorn coach.
  • Ben McEvoy had 53 hitouts, which is the most recorded by a Hawthorn player
• Round 9:
  • Tom Mitchell had 50 disposals, which is the most recorded by a Hawthorn player.
• Round 18:
  • Alastair Clarkson coached his 300th game, which is the most of any Hawthorn coach.

• Round 1:
  • Ricky Henderson – Hawthorn debut
  • Tom Mitchell – Hawthorn debut
  • Jaeger O'Meara – Hawthorn debut
  • Ty Vickery – Hawthorn debut
• Round 2:
  • Teia Miles – AFL debut
  • Josh Gibson – 150th game for Hawthorn
  • Tom Mitchell – 1st goal for Hawthorn
  • Ty Vickery – 1st goal for Hawthorn
• Round 3:
  • Jaeger O'Meara – 1st goal for Hawthorn
• Round 4:
  • Ben McEvoy – 150th AFL game
  • Will Langford – 50th AFL game
• Round 5:
  • Jarryd Roughead – 500th AFL goal
  • Liam Shiels – 50th AFL goal
• Round 7:
  • Billy Hartung – 50th AFL game
• Round 8:
  • Liam Shiels – 150th AFL game
  • Ricky Henderson – 1st goal for Hawthorn
• Round 10:
  • Luke Breust – 150th AFL game
  • Brendan Whitecross – 100th AFL game
  • James Cousins – AFL debut
  • Dallas Willsmore – AFL debut
  • James Cousins – 1st AFL goal
• Round 14:
  • Ricky Henderson – 100th AFL game
• Round 15:
  • Ricky Henderson – 50th AFL goal
• Round 16:
  • Isaac Smith – 150th AFL game
• Round 17:
  • Luke Hodge – 300th AFL game
• Round 18:
  • Alastair Clarkson – 300th AFL game as coach
  • Conor Glass – AFL debut
• Round 19:
  • Shaun Burgoyne – 100th goal for Hawthorn
• Round 20:
  • Jarryd Roughead – 250th AFL game
  • Teia Miles – 1st AFL goal
• Round 21:
  • Luke Breust – 300th AFL goal
• Round 22:
  • Taylor Duryea – 100th AFL game
• Round 23:
  • Jaeger O'Meara – 50th AFL game