But as his brother, Michael went on to follow in the on-field footsteps to play 63 games for North Melbourne and Fitzroy, Justin forged an arduous path to becoming the Hawthorn Football Club chief executive officer.

Working in the AFL industry since the late 90's in various roles at Channel Seven, News Limited and Foxtel, Reeves then spent eight years at Collingwood working in commercial areas before three and a half years at Geelong.

"I played a lot of junior and local footy but I was always more interested in the business side of it," the Hawks CEO said.

Following the dismissal of then-CEO, Tracey Gaudry 18 months ago due to personal circumstances, the club then reached out to Reeves, despite being entrenched in his work at Geelong and from there a meeting with Hawks president, Jeff Kennett followed.

Quickly and suddenly, Reeves was Hawthorn's CEO and eager to shoot the club in a new on and off-field direction.

Ensuring a quality future for his new AFL side by locking down their coach for the next four years with a majority of high-quality, senior players to follow, the Hawks are about to embark on the biggest project in AFL history, a $130 million training facility in Dingley.

"We are embarking on the biggest project Hawthorn will ever undertake and that's our $100 million, or there-abouts, new facility in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

"That's the biggest AFL club project that any club has ever embarked on so that's a big one for us."

Alongside the building of the boutique facility in Dingley, which is expected to feature three community ovals and six multi-purpose indoor courts, a priority of Reeves' list is one that is high on Tasmania's, renewing the Hawthorn deal that ends in 2021.

"I think it [Hawthorn re-signing] is so important for Tasmania and if Tasmania were to get their own footy team, we'd be a huge supporter of that and we would want to make sure that's a successful team.

"There's no use creating something down here that people didn't support and had no momentum.

"With the long term vision of Tasmania having their own team, we are supportive of and will be the first to congratulate them but until then, we are really proud of what we do here and our connection [to Tasmania] and we would love to continue here until Tasmania is ready or able to have their own team."

It's not just Hawthorn that has grown to love Tasmania however, with Reeves himself growing a personal love for our island state despite an 18-month fling comparing to the Hawks' 19-year commitment.

"Last year I came here 12 times. My wife and I have traveled right down the East Coast, the West Coast and have probably seen more of Tasmania in 18 months than most people do in a life time.

"I honestly could live here. I think it's the most beautiful place and I love coming here.

"No matter what happens in the future with football in Tasmania, it'll be somewhere we'd really love to come back to."

With a possible Tasmanian AFL team and North Melbourne's Hobart deal two of the main oppositions to the Hawks continuing their lengthy partnership with the Apple Isle, Reeves believes the two-team model in the state is working and can continue to work cohesively for Tasmania.

"We think the two-club model works really well. We think North Melbourne do a great job in the South and we support that.

"We aren't interested in going down and taking over from North, we think they do that really well and we think we do a great job up here in Launceston.

"We think that the Tasmanian people actually quite like having a team in the North and a team in the South and we hope we can continue until Tasmania can support their own team."

Whether it be York Park, Aurora Stadium or UTAS Stadium, the Launceston venue has produced a significant home ground advantage for the Hawks as they aimed to make it their home away from home.

Becoming the most successful venue for any AFL team in history to play more than 50 games at one ground, Hawthorn have picked up 47 wins from the 61 games hosted at their alternate home ground, with a win percentage of 77.87%, slightly better than the West Coast Eagles' record at the WACA.

Their impressive record features a 19-win consecutive streak running from round eight, 2012 until round six, 2017, with previous York Park occupant, St Kilda being 75 points too strong for the home favourite.

"What tends to happen with home ground advantages and this clearly is one, although we lost a game last year and don't like to lose too often, is when you invest in the community, you form a stronger bond with the community.

"For visiting teams to come here, and it's been a predominantly Hawthorn-based crowd because they are passionate and keen about supportive Hawthorn, it just helps you.

"To play in a stadium that's predominately your supporters, it just helps the players."

Despite Reeves not being too much of a strong football player himself, his son Ned seems to have picked up the family gene and brings yet another personal connection for the CEO to the Hawthorn Football Club as he joined the Hawks through the new SSP rookie system this year.