Why Cornes would be booking his prelim final ticket if he were a Hawks fan

Hawthorn found a way to get the job done against Carlton at the MCG on Thursday night.

Sam Mitchell’s Hawks trailed by five points at half-time but kicked seven goals to two in the second half to come away with a 20-point win, giving them a 3-0 start to the 2025 season.

SEN Breakfast’s David King was suitably impressed by how the Hawks absorbed what the Blues threw at them before their game kicked into gear.

“They found a way to win. Sometimes you don’t play the best game of footy but you can find a way to win, and win a different way,” King said.

“There were getting smashed at clearances, their mids were well held and clamped, and then in bursts they were able to find a way.

“They had some things go their way. I didn’t think the umpires had a great night.”

King loved what he saw from Mabior Chol, who kicked three goals and had seven score involvements, and was particularly taken by the performance of midfielder Jai Newcombe, who finished the night with 32 disposals, 11 tackles, nine clearances and nine score involvements.

“Mabior Chol, that’s the best game I’ve seen him play,” King added.

“He was involved in all their scoring.

“I thought Jai Newcombe was outstanding, and particularly on the outside.

“Creating space, putting teammates into good space via his handball was just terrific.

“He was probably the number one player on the ground last night from a Hawthorn point of view.”

Kane Cornes was in a similar boat to King, praising the Hawks for having the ability to win footy matches in varying fashion.

“Hawthorn have done it differently in all three wins,” said Cornes.

“Last week (against Essendon) they were smacked up around contest and clearance, but did it with ball movement.

“At half-time last night they hadn’t kicked a goal from turnover which is very unusual for them. It was all five goals from stoppage so then it was the reverse of last week.

“In the end, they just know that teams cannot go with them.”

He highlighted Hawthorn’s spread of contributors and overall depth when making a bold call relating to their 2025 aspirations, marking them in for a Preliminary Final appearance at the very least.

“They didn’t get anything out of Dylan Moore. I thought Ollie Hollands did a terrific job on him,” Cornes continued.

“It doesn’t matter if individuals are down, someone else will bob up as they have done.

“I thought Nick Watson’s ability to come up the ground and to play with more freedom and get involved, it was seven score involvements from his 16 touches and a couple of big goals. He’s a freak and he’s a star.

“You’d be pretty happy if you’re a Hawthorn fan. I’d at least be booking my prelim final ticket.”

King concluded: “Yeah, I think they’ll be there but a long way to go.”

“Essendon looked ok in patches against them, Carlton looked ok in patches against them, so there’s still a long way to go for that.”

The unbeaten Hawks will take their 3-0 record to the familiar surrounds of UTAS Stadium in Launceston to take on GWS next Saturday night.