Lloyd Meek down to Jai Newcombe, who exploded out the front of stoppage and sent it deep to Mitch Lewis. Lewis created a predictable drop for the dynamic Connor MacDonald, who snapped Hawthorn's third goal in three minutes early in the last quarter last weekend.
It was arguably the match-winner, sapping Gold Coast and extending the margin to 25 points.
Hawthorn scored 32 points from centre stoppages against the Suns after concerning signs at centre stoppages in the weeks leading into the bye.
“We've worked on centre bounce for a considerable part of the year and we're starting to see change in there which has been positive,” Hawthorn midfield coach David Mackay told Zero Hanger.
“We'll keep going after it. You have to continually be giving yourself the best opportunity in there and all the craft you do around that specific part of the game tells over a period of time.”
Earlier in the season, the Hawks fell away significantly late in the game against Fremantle, did not capitalise on their clearances in a close loss to Western Bulldogs and started terribly in that area against Adelaide
Will Day's return has been timely, with Hawthorn winning just one of the four games prior to his return, and he provided a reminder of his talent last Friday night and looks primed for a big finish to the season after his shoulder injury.
Skipper Jai Newcombe has reinforced his credentials as a bona fide on-baller in 2026.
But whether the club has a strong and deep enough midfield around that pair to go all the way in 2026 has been a point of contention since images of an exasperated Tom Petroro emerged from Marvel Stadium at the end of the 2025 AFL Trade Period as it became clear his client, Zach Merrett, would not be a Hawk this year.
“I won't be getting into individual players but what I do now is our list management has been pretty open about trying to improve our list…we're going to try and do that at season's end,” Mitchell said on Channel 7's Agenda Setters on Monday.
Be that as it may, it won't help them hoist a 14th flag in 2026, putting the onus on the young midfielders to step up and assist Newcombe and Day.
Rucks
Hawthorn sit first in the competition for hitouts, hitout win percentage and hitouts to advantage.
The two-ruck model has worked for them, and while Lloyd Meek and Ned Reeves are an unheralded pair, they've delivered results at stoppage for Hawthorn.
“It has given us a point of difference at times and both those guys are quality AFL rucks and those guys have worked really well," MacKay said.
"It hasn't always been easy in terms of getting the balance right, there's sacrifices which have to be made in terms of game time for us to be able to play that setup but they have been first class. They're smart and understand the game so help our midfield group immensely.
"At different times this year – if one of them has been a bit off, the other one has stepped in and lifted their work rate and role."
The Hawks also have Mabior Chol who can be used as a ruck at centre square stoppages, but has only been used in the role in two games this year. MacKay stopped short of committing to the two-ruck model for the rest of the season while praising the seasons of both Meek and Reeves.
But are the Hawks getting bang for buck for their ruck ascendancy?
They sit fifth for clearances, but just 10th for contested possessions and were stuttering against good teams with their ability to score from centre stoppage and defend centre stoppage score before the bye.
The game against Gold Coast was an important step forward and demonstrated Hawthorn's preferred method at centre ball-ups – and that they were successful without contested brute Conor Nash was pleasing – but the jury is still out about how strong Gold Coast is.
“We've got our hands on the ball a lot but that provides different challenges, you become a little bit more predictable in terms of reading off the hand and that sort of thing so we want to keep getting better at utilising the advantage and we've made gains in that space ," MacKay said.
