On Sunday or Monday, Luke Hodge will face his own leadership group, in what will be a strange meeting. Captains seldom find themselves facing a jury of their own peers.
Obviously, Hodge will not be suspended. That would make some people happy, but none of them want Hawthorn to win the premiership. It would be ridiculous to impose a severe penalty on the team in a final that could well determine the premier – certainly, the Hawks will be in pole position if they win on Friday night.
After a mea culpa to his four fellow leaders, Hodge is expected either to be fined, or to make a voluntary donation to a relevant charity or organisation - such as one that supports road safety. The meeting, which will be attended by coach Alastair Clarkson and football boss Chris Fagan, shouldn't take more than 20 minutes.
The Hawks can then move on and prepare for their first final, resuming normal transmission.
This drink-driving incident, on the eve of the finals, is the third occasion this season when Hodge has let down his fellow players and coaches. He has been suspended for acts of brutality twice in 2015, clobbering Andrew Swallow early this season (three matches) and then incurring a two-match ban for a crude head-high bump on the sublime Chad Wingard. Like Sam Mitchell (who corked Nat Fyfe and Taylor Walker) and his vice-captain Jordan Lewis (round arm on Todd Goldstein), Hodge has not wasted his excessive physicality on ordinary players this year.
Hawthorn cannot and should not allow the drink-driving indiscretion to interfere with their finals campaign. But the question of whether Hodge should remain as captain ought to be on the agenda at season's end, regardless of whether he leads them to a third premiership. I believe this summer would an ideal time to change skippers.
That Hodge has been a magnificent skipper and is a person of great decency is not in question. Like Steve Johnson, he's all the more loved for being a natural footballer with a rogue streak in these corporate conformist times. Colac never left him.
Alas, what is also undeniable is that this latest incident weakens his authority over impressionable youngsters. It is much harder to have the "hard" conversation with a 20-year-old who's mucked up under the influence - as young men do - when you've been a bloody idiot in the days before the finals.
Hodge is said to be mortified by his mistake and filled with contrition. He would be aware, like everyone at Hawthorn, of the impact of drink-driving, and mindful of the tragedy involving Brett Ratten's son Cooper, who died as a passenger in the back seat.
While Hodge should not forfeit the captaincy simply because he has been done for drink-driving - and suspended twice on the field - this incident can be seen as a tipping point for change. It's also arguable that the time has come for Hodge to allow either of the vice-captains, Lewis or Jarryd Roughead, to take the leadership, irrespective of these disciplinary lapses.
Hawthorn has an old leadership group – Mitchell, Hodge and Josh Gibson are 30-plus, Lewis is 29, Roughead 28. The club needs to begin a transition process. Younger leaders, such as Liam Shiels, must be promoted next year. If Roughead and/or Lewis aren't captain soon, they may well miss the boat, because it will skip a generation, bypassing the (draft) class of 2004.
For Hodge to hand over the captaincy, voluntarily, would be consistent with the Hawthorn way. Mitchell, who captained the 2008 flag, handed the baton to Hodge for the 2011 season in what was a significant change of leadership style from a more strait-laced officer-class captain to "one of the boys."
Shane Crawford passed the leadership to Richie Vandenberg and stayed on to play for another four seasons.
It's true that Hodge is an imposing figure to have underneath for the next captain, and the Hawks would be unusual for having two premiership captains who aren't skippering the team.
But Hodge would be a fantastic mentor for the next skipper if there's a changeover in 2016. Hawthorn also can buy some time to promote the younger leaders, since Roughead or Lewis can hold the job for longer than Hodge, who'll be 32 next year.
I'd be surprised if the Hawks hadn't already considered whether the captaincy should change hands for 2016. Hodge is in his fifth year in the job, which involves far more than the on-field marshalling that he does so expertly. Who knows - he might not mind having a season without those off-field responsibilities and to finish his career without the shackles of leadership?
There will be those who say that you don't change something that's working, which would be a complete misreading of Hawthorn's successful philosophy. The Hawks have succeeded, on all fronts, by getting ahead of the game - they've moved training bases, put down roots in Tasmania and, at Clarkson's behest, introduced novel game plans that anticipated where footy was headed.
To have Hodge hand over the captaincy would be another instance of thinking about tomorrow, which will soon be here.
