It will be the first regular season match for Hawthorn in Tasmania this year.

UTAS Stadium ground manager Robert Groenewegen said thousands of tickets had already been sold. 

“It’s looking like it’s going to be a really strong game but I’ve got to emphasise there is still tickets available,” he said. 

Groenewegen expected a good crowd for the first of Hawthorn’s four matches in Launceston.

“With this game it’s really kicked off strongly,” he said. 

“I know the Hawks haven’t been playing too well and St Kilda is probably a bit mixed.”

Despite the slump in form, Groenewegen expects Tasmanians to turn up and support the Hawks.

 “Their memberships sales are really strong, as strong as they’ve ever been,” he said. 

“We think there’s a lot of St Kilda fans out there too.

“It’s exciting and it looks like a game that could certainly go either way.”

He said last year’s ticket drama  – when thousands of tickets did not scan correctly – would not happen again.

“We’ve got all that solved, it was a bit of a scanning issue there but we’ve worked all that out,” he laughed.

Groenewegen said his team was focused on ensuring all games at UTAS were well attended.

“We’ve had a fantastic run with the best team in the land for a long time now but regardless of how they’re going we certainly want the public to continue to support these games, and all indications is that they are,” he said. 

“It’s more about making sure we have close to full houses every time the Hawks play here.”

Hawthorn will play four matches at UTAS Stadium across the season.

The Hawks’ open training will be held at 3pm on Friday at the stadium before first bounce against St Kilda at 1.45pm on Saturday.