Hawthorn has moved quickly to appoint a new CEO, announcing Geelong's chief commercial officer Justin Reeves had accepted the position just two weeks after deciding to replace Tracey Gaudry.
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The swift move came after Gaudry's short-lived tenure ended after five months and led to Richard Garvey handing over the club presidency to former president Jeff Kennett.
Rather than go through an executive search process, the club pounced on Reeves who was a candidate to become the Cats' CEO after Brian Cook.
Reeves' decision to join the Hawks comes just a day after Cats former football manager Steve Hocking started at the AFL as their new football operations manager.
The departures of the two key lieutenants at Geelong limits the Cats' options if Cook moves on, as many expect at the end of next season, having been at the club since 1999.
Reeves joined Geelong in 2015 after establishing his reputation in seven years at Collingwood from 2008-2015 and has previously worked at Foxtel.
He has worked under Magpies club president Eddie McGuire and spent time at Harvard University after winning the AFL's Graeme Samuel Scholarship in 2011.
He is the second former Cat to move into the hot seat at Hawthorn with Stuart Fox arriving from Geelong to become Hawks CEO in 2009, before joining the MCG as CEO at the end of last year.
The Hawks' swift move leaves Carlton, Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs seeking new CEOs for 2018.
