Pink proved a colourful complement to the traditional brown and gold as the Hawks kicked off their 15th season at Aurora Stadium with a 70-point flogging of the Western Bulldogs.

Promoting Cancer Council Tasmania, the first of four roster matches at the Launceston venue this season, saw Hawks players sporting pink socks.

And there was plenty of entertainment even before the first bounce for the 15,559-strong crowd.

After the traditional Hawk Walk from City Park, the club unveiled its 12th premiership flag and invited fans to take part in a new promotion to support Tasmanian produce.

Four fans were selected, invited to don fetching pink gumboots and then compete to see who could crush the most grapejuice into a barrel in 60 seconds.

Ulverstone’s Lyn Thurley was the delighted winner of a trip to Melbourne to watch Hawthorn play Sydney, but with her and son Lachlan both Sydney fans and husband, Leon, and other son, Kolbie, Hawks followers she faced a tough decision over who to take.

‘‘It was just perfect for us and I said we had to do it,’’ said Mrs Thurley who doubted she would make a good winemaker.

‘‘It was amazing but hard work. I’ve not done anything like that before but it was good fun.’’

Hawthorn’s Tasmanian operations manager David Cox said the club had plans to hold similar promotions before each of its fixtures in the state this season.

Celebrity-spotting is usually fairly easy on AFL game day in Launceston and fans of all persuasion enjoyed watching former St Kilda and Collingwood captains Danny Frawley and Tony Shaw filming behind the main stand while their Fox Sports colleagues, Bulldogs and Swans champions Brad Johnson and Barry Hall, patrolled the boundary line.

Ten Hawthorn fans representing a combined total of 200 years of club membership paraded the 2014 AFL flag across the ground before Hawks president Andrew Newbold thanked Tasmania’s record number of nearly 9000 members.

‘‘We could not win this without all of you so you should be proud of your contribution,’’ he said.

At the pre-match president’s function, Mr Newbold explained how other AFL clubs were seeking to reproduce the successful relationship Hawthorn enjoys with Tasmania.

‘‘We’ve been sharing our history down here because the Bulldogs are planning to do something similar in Ballarat,’’ he said.

‘‘What that tells me is what Hawthorn have been able to do down here in Tasmania is now regarded as a blueprint for other clubs.

‘‘The relationships that we’ve formed down here are deep and long-lasting and other clubs are looking to copy that and we’re very proud of that.’’

Talking up the benefits of the Hawks’ five-year $15 million sponsorship deal with Tasmania, which expires at the end of 2016, Mr Newbold said the club would soon be sitting down to discuss renegotiations with the government, whose representatives Peter Gutwein and Michael Ferguson were seated just a handball distance to his right.