Hawthorn reveals free agency tactics following Lance Franklin's departure to Sydney Lance Franklin takes a breather at training. HAWTHORN says it will never again offer a player the type of deal Lance Franklin rebuffed, but will extend its premiership window with a massive free agency war-chest. Hawks president Andrew Newbold said yesterday he suspected Franklin was gone in about August next year, expressing doubt he would play out his nine-year contract at Sydney. But Newbold paid tribute to Franklin and the club for minimising the distraction of his contract and winning the 2013 premiership. He admitted power clubs like Hawthorn were advantaged by free agency, with the Hawks hoping to lure two or three stars with the money Franklin rejected. The likes of Fremantle's David Mundy, Melbourne's James Frawley, Collingwood's Ben Reid and Carlton's Bryce Gibbs and Marc Murphy are among the most high-profile free agents. We will never do a Franklin deal, because for me regardless of who you are or what you are doing, I am not a believer of having one bloke way out there (with a huge salary) and the rest in here. Fundamentally I am opposed to that and most of our people (at Hawthorn) are. But if there are good blokes out there, or two or three blokes out there who want to come and we see them playing a role, we will be active. We lost Franklin but who is to say what we will pick up next year or the year after. We have room in our cap. All you have to do is make yourself a place where people want to be, have the money which we do, and you can take a player like Garlett and you back yourself to attract the talent to keep the (premiership) window open. We know we have an ageing midfield, but we have some young blokes keen to have a crack. Hawthorn hopes four-goal Grand Final hero Jack Gunston will again step up this year, and has young midfielders Brad Hill, Isaac Smith, Jed Anderson and Dayle Garlett refreshing its list. The Hawks offered Franklin a five-year deal with the option of six years, but never went close to matching Sydney's $10 million nine-year deal. Newbold said Geelong had shown through free agency acquisitions like Jared Rivers and trading in young kids like Josh Caddy their window could be extended. They are a classic example. They have had that really good patch, and free agency has allowed them to keep going. You become a destination club. So when (Ben) McEvoy, when he got a phone call that he was going to Hawthorn said, all right. There will be other guys like (Brian) Lake saying when my time is up at my club, that's where I want to go. I think free agency has allowed good clubs to be better and it has allowed good clubs to keep the window open longer.