The 2017 season was the Hawthorn Football Club's 93rd season in the Australian Football League and 116th overall, the 18th season playing home games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the 17th season playing home games at the newly named University of Tasmania Stadium, the 13th season under head coach Alastair Clarkson, and the 1st season with Jarryd Roughead as club captain. This was the first time since 2013 that Hawthorn didn't enter the season as the defending premiers.
Hawthorn started the season 0âÂÂ4 for the first time since 1998. Hawthorn failed to match their 17âÂÂ5 record from 2016, finishing in 12th with a record. With Hawthorn's 7 point loss to in round 22, they were eliminated from finals contention for this first time since 2009. This was also the first time since 2005, Hawthorn were defeated by Carlton. This was also the first time under Clarkson that no player kicked 50 goals for the 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, while Adidas continued to manufacture the club's on-and-off field apparel, as they had done since 2013. 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.
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. On 1 May, Tracey Gaudry was appointed the club's new CEO.
The following lists all player changes between the conclusion of the 2016 season and the beginning of the 2017 season.
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. 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. The club's opponents for the four games in Launceston were , , and in rounds six, eight, 16 and 21 respectively, while the club played , , , and twice during the regular season.
The Hawks began the 2017 season with a 25-point loss to , 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; 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 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round two. It travelled to Adelaide twice for matches against 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 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.
Based on its finishing position from 2016, Hawthorn's fixture was rated the second-most difficult (only behind ) 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.