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.
Can they win the premiership?
Put simply, ball movement, territory and defence are the three areas that history shows a team needs to dominate to win the premiership.
Hawthorn challenges opponents with their ability to transition the ball from the back half and punish on turnover, with the ball use and personnel to go bang.
Only Sydney spends more time in its forward half than Hawthorn, putting pressure on opposition defences to hold up.
And pressure underpins what Hawthorn do in the midfield.
Internal growth, familiarity with a style in Mitchell's fifth season at the helm and the star-power and balance of the midfield group puts them strongly in contention, alongside Fremantle and Sydney.
It will likely come down to how that group of MacKenzie, Ward and McDonald, in particular, go in September when the heat goes up a notch.
But amid the speculation about Hawthorn's activity in the trade space, the incumbent list has proven its ability to contend.
“I feel like we've made some good progress both collectively and the individuals within there – that's been pleasing,” MacKay said.
“There are still areas of the game we're chasing and putting it together consistently is something we're striving to be better in. Our best is at a pretty good level but it's just maintaining that and engraining it more in our group.
“The most pleasing thing from my perspective has been the collective buy in and contribution of everyone. At certain times we've had really good performers in Jai and earlier in the year Conor Nash was really important but everyone has picked up the slack and played their role.
“Collectively, when we've looked at our best, it has been weight of numbers and that has been something we've been really strong on and continuing to build that so we can keep having multiple threats in there and be hard to play against.”
