[2] With Jarryd Roughead and Grant Birchall departing this season will be the first to not have any player from Hawthorn's 2008 premiership team on the list.
On 16 March 2020, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan announced that the season would be shortened to 17 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
From round 13 until the end of the season, the Hawks would base themselves in the Barossa Valley in South Australia, playing home games at the Adelaide Oval.
[4] A 10–point loss to Port Adelaide in round 13 meant that Hawthorn would fail to win 10 games in a season since 2009.
Meaning for the first time since 2006 the club would fail to qualify for finals in consecutive seasons.