Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge is refusing to join club greats in conceding champion forward Lance Franklin will quit the AFL premiers.
Franklin was almost certain to perform his last duties with the Hawks when they visited fans at their Tasmanian base, Aurora Stadium, on Monday afternoon.
An announcement he will join Greater Western Sydney on a multi-million dollar per season deal is expected as early as Tuesday.
Club great Dermott Brereton said on Monday he had given up hope of retaining the two-time Coleman medallist, while Hawks legend Leigh Matthews was already looking to life after Franklin.
Hodge, though, said nothing had been confirmed.
“You can’t really assume anything at this stage,” he told reporters at a Hobart premiership fan day.
“It’s a big call for him, he’ll make his decision in the next day or two, he’ll inform the club.
“We’re still hoping that he stays.”
But Hodge said Franklin would be mindful of life after football when the 26-year-old considers a massive offer likely to be topped up by an AFL ambassadorial role.
“He’s got to look at his interests probably post-football as well,” Hodge said.
“No doubt it’s going to be a lot of money that’s getting offered to him.”
Franklin will leave with his teammates’ blessing, with the Hawks showing throughout 2013 they are well placed to defend their premiership without him.
Club president Andrew Newbold said he was proud the team had not let Franklin’s future become a distraction during the season.
The Hawks only lost three times this year and capped an outstanding season on Saturday when they beat Fremantle in the grand final by 15 points.
Newbold sounded on Monday like a president who was resigned to losing the club’s top player.
“I’m just trying to prepare myself and I think we’ve done that for the year,” Newbold told 3AW.
“The other thing we’re really proud of is the fact that we remained focused as an organisation on what we wanted to achieve despite some people saying that was going to be a distraction for us.
“The players and coaches handled that magnificently.”
Franklin announced in February he was putting off his contract negotiations until the end of the season and that immediately led to talk that it would complicate Hawthorn’s premiership campaign.