After a week in which they have been at the centre of four major trade discussions, the Hawks pulled an ace from their sleeve late on Friday afternoon in the form of a swap of picks with St Kilda. The Saints gave up this year's pick 10 and pick 68 for Hawthorn's first-round selection next year, and a pair of 2016 second-round picks (23 and 36).

Discussions with the Suns hit a roadblock earlier in the week after Hawthorn traded pick 14 to Sydney for Tom Mitchell. The Suns had been keen on that pick as part of a deal, meaning pick 10 will also prove enticing to Gold Coast. The expansion club is also after a quality player, with Suns football manager Marcus Ashcroft confirming via the club's website that they had identified several Hawks of interest for a trade.

With their chances of clinching a deal for O'Meara bolstered, Hawthorn are adamant they will keep Jordan Lewis, even though Melbourne have not given up hope of procuring a trade for the Hawks vice-captain. The Hawks insist Lewis - a four-time premiership player - wants to remain at Waverley and won't be joining Sam Mitchell in departing the club. Hours after Mitchell's stunning move to West Coast was finalised on Friday, Hawks list manager Graham Wright played down talk that Lewis was angry at Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson after it emerged there had been brief discussions between the Demons and Hawks about the prospect of Lewis leaving the Hawks - despite being contracted until the end of next season.

Wright reiterated that Lewis, 30, was a required player, and that Hawthorn had never seriously considered offloading the veteran midfielder before his contract expired. "He was never put on the trade table, he had an open and honest conversation with Clarko a couple weeks ago about what his future would look like," Wright said on Friday.

"This was about his future and what it would look like beyond next year. That conversation was had, Jordan's management explored that there might be something else for him after next year if he happened to finish up.

"From that perspective, it was brought to us on Tuesday night, we had a brief conversation with Melbourne on Wednesday and then with Jordan yesterday and as of yesterday afternoon we decided that we really didn't want Jordan to go anywhere and he's a required contracted player."

Asked if Lewis would be a Hawk in 2017, Wright said: "At this stage, absolutely."

As of Friday afternoon, the Demons still had hopes of acquiring Lewis for 2017, although it's understood the club felt that it was unlikely a trade would be completed between the clubs.

Melbourne football operations manager Josh Mahoney confirmed his club still had interest in Lewis. "We received an approach from Jordan Lewis' management earlier this week regarding the possibility of him joining Melbourne. This was after discussions Jordan had with Hawthorn. We understand that Jordan is contracted to Hawthorn, but we remain interested in looking at this option," Mahoney said.

There have been murmurings that Lewis' nose was put out of joint by his discussions with Clarkson, but Wright rejected suggestions that Lewis was irate with the coach. "I spoke to [Lewis] yesterday, and as far as I know, no [he's not angry]," Wright said.

"You'd have to ask Jordan that one. That was a conversation between him and Clarko. But I don't think it was anger. It certainly wasn't anger when I was with him yesterday."

It's understood Lewis' link to the Demons stemmed from a strong relationship with former Hawks assistant and now Melbourne player personnel manager Todd Viney. Lewis mentored Viney's son, and now Demons star Jack Viney during Jack's days playing in the TAC Cup.

The Lewis situation somehow overshadowed the departure of Mitchell. The Eagles received the five-time Hawks best and fairest along with picks 54 and 72 in this year's draft, with Hawthorn acquiring picks 52, 70 and 88. Effectively the Hawks advanced two places in the third and fourth rounds of the draft and gained pick 88 - a selection that goes unused in many drafts - for the 2008 premiership captain, a three-time All-Australian with 307 games experience.

But despite having let Mitchell go for next to nothing, Wright said the trade was not done to clear salary cap space to bring in Tom Mitchell and O'Meara. The Hawks officially landed Mitchell on Friday, having reached an in-principle agreement with the Swans earlier in the week. Hawthorn received pick 14 and pick 52 in exchange for Mitchell and pick 57. Wright said that talks between the Hawks and Suns were likely to step up a gear over the weekend, with Hawthorn remaining hopeful they will claim the West Australian next week despite difficulties in trying to find a suitable trade. Wright said there remained a chance the Hawks would need to call in a third club to ensure O'Meara's move, however he said there had been no discussions with the Brisbane Lions about contracted midfielder Billy Hartung, who has been linked to the Lions as part of a mooted three-way deal that could help O'Meara become a Hawk.

It's understood the Lions are also interested in Hawk utility Brendan Whitecross, who has a strong relationship with new Lions coach and former Hawthorn football department chief Chris Fagan. Whitecross, who twice missed grand finals due to serious knee injuries, triggered a games clause in his contract, meaning he is contracted to Hawthorn in 2017.

Rather than salary cap space, Wright said that Sam Mitchell's move to West Coast had been done in order to advance Mitchell's coaching career, with Mitchell set to take his place on the Eagles' coaching panel under former Hawks assistant Adam Simpson when he retires. "It's about his future," Wright said.

"We've had a lot of people at this football club go, we've had our football manager [Fagan] leave last week to go and be coach of Brisbane.

"We initiated the conversation. In the end we felt that we needed to facilitate the trade on the basis that Sam was so keen to have this done."

Asked if he felt it set a precedent for letting contracted players leave the club, Wright said: "At this stage, I would have thought no. But I think each case has to be treated on its individual merits and why the player wants to leave, what's in it for them and what's in it for us."

He pointed to the Hawks' decision to allow contracted speedster Brad Hill to return to Western Australia - where he officially joined his brother Stephen at Fremantle earlier in the week - as proof Hawthorn looked at each case of a player wanting to leave in isolation. "From a compassionate point of view, we said we would look at that if it was of benefit to Bradley and a benefit to the club. And in the end it was," Wright said.

Not that it made the decision to lose Mitchell easy. Hawthorn have been flooded with calls from supporters upset with the decision to let the club great depart, and Wright acknowledged that there was bound to be discontent with such a bold trade. "For a lot of us it's a sad day for a lot of Hawthorn supporters and even us in here it's a sad day," Wright said.

"There's always going to be a mixed reaction from supporters. We understand that. It's an emotional game.

"The supporters are very attached to Sam and what he's done for this football club has been outstanding.

"We've had a bit of a mixed reaction but we have a really happy player and that was our most important thing."

Then there was the on-field perspective. In Mitchell, the Hawks have parted with their 2016 best and fairest and arguably still their best player. Yet Wright said he was hopeful the Hawks could still contend for a premiership next year.

Mitchell penned an emotional letter to Hawthorn fans on Friday that appeared on the Hawks' website. "At 34, with a young family and perhaps my best footy behind me, this all makes sense and it opens doors in terms of my next dream to be a coach. Some of you will be angry and think the club and I have made a big mistake which I understand but emotion aside this is the right decision for myself and the football club," Mitchell said.

Mitchell later told SEN that he had received a phone call from a distraught former Hawks president Ian Dicker. "I've received lost of text messages from fans that I've been associated with for such a long period saying 'I'm disappointed' or 'I'm sad," Mitchell said.

"Ian Dicker rang me in tears saying 'I can't understand this but I'm sure I'll understand it in some time.'

"There's so many people associated with your footy club that you don't realise, until you're in this situation, that you've meant a lot to."

Mitchell said he didn't know about Lewis' situation in intimate detail. "The first I heard of it was I got a text message from a reporter asking me to confirm and I said it's genuinely the first I'd heard of it," Mitchell said.

"In a few hours of that I was reading it in the paper like everyone else.

"I had absolutely no inkling of any other stuff and, to be honest, because I've been one foot out of Hawthorn for a couple of weeks I'd be the last person that would know anything about it."