King ready to elevate Newcombe conversations after "defining" Elimination performance

Does Friday night’s epic performance elevate Jai Newcombe to superstar status?

The Hawk blew the game to shreds in front of nearly 98,000 at the MCG, amounting 35 disposals, 10 score involvements, three clearances and a goal in Hawthorn’s Elimination Final win over the Bulldogs.

Having now put together a string of serious performances over the course of 2024 and beyond, David King believes the 23-year-old should be elevated to conversations surrounding the best of the best in the AFL.

“Coming into this game, he’s played some pretty good footy over the last couple of years, we know he’s no slouch”, King told SEN’s Whateley.

“But, ‘What level of player is he?’, was probably my question coming in, and do Hawthorn absolutely have ‘the man’? Because you need ‘the man’ at some stage to just take control of your on-field performances.

“From the five-minute mark of the second quarter to five minutes into the last, so an hour of game time, he had 23 disposals which was nine more than anyone else on the ground, including eight score involvements.

“He took total control of the game and I just wonder if we’re not recognising what this guy is doing.

“Is he slipping through the cracks? We talk about the elite players, no one mentions him. He’s never in the top 10 midfielders discussed and we find reasons to leave him out and I’m not sure why.

“There are some players, I like to call them ‘when you have to it’ players, when a game has to be decided, is he now in that bracket?

“I sort of think he is.”

King was not alone in recognising the midfielder, as Gerard Whateley believes it was the kind of performance that defines Finals footy.

Whateley: "(His game) was defining."

King:: "Wasn't it!"

Whateley: “That performance helps redefine him.

“For the body of work that he’s put together, this is what September is for isn’t it.

“He’s the separating figure across one hour of a final and we all saw it.”

King: “At the start of that one hour they were two goals down.

“The Dogs weren’t hopeless, they were made to look ordinary for a large chunk of that game by a pretty good team, and Newcombe was a major part of that.

“He did it when they needed it to happen.”

Newcombe will look to carry his hot form into the weekend, as the Hawks travel to Adelaide to face the Power this Friday night.