\u2018What\u2019s the point of playing them?\u2019 Heat on flag Tigers; AFL\u2019s hardest side to work out<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s a unique position that (King) is in \u2026 based on his age profile and money they\u2019ll pay him, he\u2019s not going to Box Hill, is he?\u201d Dixon jovially began to Foxfooty.com.au. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re in a bit of a difficult situation \u2026 based on who\u2019s going to deliver what. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd with Lewis and Mabior in there, you\u2019re not playing four talls, are you? I don\u2019t think any forward line will survive with four talls. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s tough conversations with all of them, to be fair. But it all depends on the role.\u201d<\/p>\n
What the discussion teases out is the possibility that Mitchell deploys both Gunston and King – who knows no other duty – close to goal, which Dixon says could compromise Hawthorn\u2019s defensive shape. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that role (King) plays at Gold Coast is literally the offside striker,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the anchor. He can be two and a half kicks away, but he\u2019s still on the 50, waiting for the ball to turn over and rebound back. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, do Hawthorn play two in that role? You\u2019re giving up a little bit of defence with that. Does Sam know something we don\u2019t, based on, \u2018We can play two in that role\u2019 – which takes out a Mabior or a Lewis, really. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be such an interesting one. Sam\u2019s probably never shied away from a tough conversation \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA – JULY 19: Ben King of the Suns looks on during the round 19 AFL match between Gold Coast Suns and Western Bulldogs at People First Stadium, on July 19, 2026, in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Matt Roberts\/AFL Photos\/via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
With five games in Gold Coast\u2019s season remaining – provided it doesn\u2019t play finals – King is on track to kick just a tick over 60 goals this year. <\/p>\n
Once he\u2019s in the brown and gold, Dixon believes that number needs to be closer to 80, given the role luxuries and the comparable output of Gunston, who kicked 73 goals last year at age 33. <\/p>\n
\u201c(King) has kicked 60 goals a year on average, but based on his role at Gold Coast – I\u2019ve said this a number of times – that\u2019s unders, based on the role he\u2019s playing,\u201d Dixon said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe should be up in the 80s, not the 60s. If you\u2019re going to play that deep forward at 203 centimetres, you\u2019ve got to get a better return than 60 goals. This should be an 80-goal-a-year return. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd \u2018Gunners\u2019 is playing that role, kicking 70s \u2026 He\u2019s fooling some of the best backmen in the league at this stage with his experience. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why he\u2019s getting the return he\u2019s getting. There\u2019s no fluke in what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
But regardless of where in the forward line Gunston and King set up, two of Chol, Lewis and Dear are set to miss out on selection most weeks, unless Mitchell\u2019s plan is four talls – which Dixon doesn\u2019t believe.<\/p>\n
Tondy Modra shares post-surgery photos | 00:29<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not four. That (who misses out) would be the million-dollar question I\u2019d be asking,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWho do you play, and how do you play? Does Gunners play the deepest, and does Chol play the highest, and then is the mid-run King?<\/p>\n
\u201cBut one thing he (King) hasn\u2019t proven – he doesn\u2019t have the ability between the arcs to take a strong contested mark, or compete. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe needs space and isolation, because he hasn\u2019t proven to the footy world that he can actually get up the field and contribute (as) a connecting forward. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve only seen his best work and his consistency inside 50, which is really Gunston\u2019s role.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dixon revealed his ideal Hawthorn forward trio – provided it\u2019s three they go with most weeks next year – to create a \u201ctough situation\u201d for the unlucky pair. <\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, if I\u2019m brutally honest, it probably turns out to be Gunners, Chol and King,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cMitch Lewis hasn\u2019t returned a 60-goal season. So, based on that, they\u2019re your three forwards right now, as it stands. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo then, if Lewis misses out, Dear\u2019s going to miss out – I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen either of those boys play down back \u2026 that\u2019s the tough situation. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t get my head around it (the logjam), to be honest. But knowing the Hawks, they might have some wild plan that\u2019s in play that none of us could probably guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis, who\u2019s proven his durability by playing all 18 games this year, has kicked 30 goals – coming off a five-goal haul against Richmond. <\/p>\n
But with the 27-year-old now recommitted, the biggest question mark looms over Dear, who\u2019s put off contract talks to focus on his footy. <\/p>\n
Calsher Dear faces an uncertain future at the club with which he has strong family ties. (Photo by Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old Dear – son of late 1991 Norm Smith medallist Paul, and brother of Hawthorn\u2019s first-ever father-daughter pick, Maya – hasn\u2019t been able to retain a place in Mitchell\u2019s senior team this year. <\/p>\n
The out-of-contract forward has gone goalless twice in his five top-level games in 2026, with a grand tally of four goals. <\/p>\n
It comes after he burst onto the scene in his 2024 rookie season, kicking 25 goals from 17 games as an 18-year-old. <\/p>\n
Yet, with no current guarantee over his Hawthorn future, and with the aforementioned four big boys all vying for precious spots, Dear appears well and truly on the outer. <\/p>\n
And there\u2019s no doubting rival clubs will come hard for the strong-marking, mobile young gun, who stands 195 centimetres. <\/p>\n
A club like Essendon immediately comes to mind as a plausible landing spot, given the Bombers have been on the lookout for a long-term Nate Caddy running mate – having failed in their Jed Walter pursuit. <\/p>\n
Richmond, too, is rebuilding its forward line around youngsters Jonty Faull and Harry Armstrong, while Carlton has made no secret of its desire for another key target next to Harry McKay – having gone chips-in for Joel Amartey. <\/p>\n
Demons great Garry Lyon said he would advise Dear to look elsewhere at the end of this season. <\/p>\n
Murray Davis enters Essendon coach race | 01:43<\/p>\n
\u201cYep, I would be. Gunston, Chol, Lewis, King. Yeah, 100 per cent,\u201d he told SEN on Thursday. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s the thing you\u2019ve got to get your head around \u2026 this is less about loyalty. You\u2019re loyal to the club that you\u2019re at. <\/p>\n
\u201cJack Steele was as loyal as anyone; he was the captain of (St Kilda) – look what happened when he went. <\/p>\n
\u201cBoth he and the club looked at it and went, \u2018Yeah, probably better that you go\u2019. He ended up being convinced, and he\u2019s had an unbelievable year (at Melbourne).\u201d<\/p>\n
The forward-line discourse comes as Hawthorn still seeks a midfield answer – one more big name to round out the list and put the Hawks over the top as a premiership favourite. <\/p>\n
Essendon\u2019s Zach Merrett still shapes as that man, while the Hawks have previously been linked with uncertain Sun Bailey Humphrey. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey need someone else (in the midfield),\u201d Dixon said. <\/p>\n
\u201c(Josh) Ward\u2019s done a great job in the last six weeks and is showing some really good consistency. But from Day and Newcombe, you\u2019re missing one more genuine A-grader to come in there. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe backline is well and truly set now with Mraz showing his worth, and you\u2019re really stacked in the forward line, too. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re chock-a-block everywhere. They\u2019re going to have an enormous tilt at (a premiership) in the next couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hawthorn\u2019s lucrative free agent coup is set to leave it with an almighty list headache as October slowly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-819510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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