The subpar area of Hawthorn’s game that really concerns King

SEN • July 25th, 2025 11:50 am

David King is a little concerned about Hawthorn despite their 85-61 win over Carlton on Thursday night.

While the win for now has the Hawks inside the top four, King picked out one key deficiency from Thursday’s outing, which could cost them in the coming weeks.

That issue is the midfield, with the Hawks losing the contested possession count 121-129 and clearance count 27-39.

Simply put, King thinks that the Hawks will lose three of their next four games against Adelaide, Collingwood and Brisbane if their on-ball until continues to turn out those kinds of performances, potentially putting them at risk of missing finals altogether.

“I want to be with you, but I think if their midfield plays like this, they'll get smacked by Adelaide, Collingwood and Brisbane and run a chance to miss the eight. The midfield is subpar,” King said on SEN Breakfast.

“I know Will Day is just working himself back. Jai Newcombe’s horribly out of form or injured, either or.

“We're judging from the outside looking in, but they’ve got some work to do. They've got to find another strike midfielder.

“I don't know if it's Connor Macdonald, I don't know if they can get more out of (Nick)Watson or Dylan Moore. I don't know who that extra mid is.

“They're underwhelming in the middle of the moment. They've won two centre bounce contest battles since Round 9.

“They're losing territory, and then it comes down to ball movement. It's a hard way to live against good teams.

“Against Carlton, no problems, you get away with it… they can’t hurt you Carlton, they’re just a blunt knife.”

Even though the Hawks have won some tough games this winter, including against Adelaide in Tasmania and the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium, King foresees their midfield issues coming back to cost them either in September or before then if they end up missing out on finals action.

“There are other ways to win, and I'm not discrediting that…” King said.

“But I think at the end of the year, you're going to have to have a midfield that's more than competent to compete with the best.

“You look at the top four or five teams, they're going to bash them in there.”

The 13-6 Hawks next face a red-hot Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval next Friday night.