With Hawthorn's 7 point loss to Carlton in round 22, they were eliminated from finals contention for this first time since 2009.
[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.
[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] 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.