Do Hawthorn's small forwards have an issue with head-high free kicks?

David King and Kane Cornes were both critical of Hawthorn’s small forwards for trying to win free kicks on Thursday night.

The likes of Nick Watson, Jack Ginnivan and Dylan Moore played for or won head-high frees in the Hawks’ eight-point loss to Gold Coast in Darwin.

The Hawks have won 15 head-high frees inside 50 so far in 2025 - the most in the league - and won 38 last year which was also the most.

King and Cornes discussed the situation on SEN’s Fireball with the former saying it’s a massive talking point and the latter suggesting it’s a big issue.

King: “The biggest talking point from the game is the Hawthorn smalls again drawing free kicks.

“Where do you sit on this?”

Cornes: “I think it’s an issue for them

“I said this during the call, I think Nick Watson’s first contest that he went to, before he had even gathered the ball he was looking to lower his sense of gravity and win a free kick. His first thought is not ‘I’m going to gather this ball and distribute it or try to have a shot myself’, it’s ‘how can I win a free kick’.

“He’s if not my favourite player he’s my second favourite player in the game, to be able to respond to that.

“But the Ginnivan free kick that he won and kicked a goal from is not a free kick. He’s lowered his sense of gravity and there umpire has been sucked in to that.

“Then in the critical stage late, once again Nick Watson is trying to win a free kick. That is their first thought. I think Dylan Moore’s first thought is to win the football and if the tackle goes high then he’ll take it.

“I think Dylan Moore is different to Ginnivan and Watson.”

King: “Nah, I disagree.

“They’ve had 15 high free kicks in the forward 50 this year. They were number one last year. The competition average is about half of that.

“You’ve got work out whether you think this is a strength area and an asset that they’re maximising by challenging the tackler to get it right, which is sort of where I’m just slightly in this bracket.

“It just annoys the opposition fans, it really does. It challenges umpires to get it correct as well.

“The thing that annoys me is when they don’t draw the high, it has to be a free kick the other way, because that’s your prior opportunity. They’ve tried to draw the free kick and failed, they’ve been tackled, pay the free kick. Too often they don’t.”

Cornes: “It has to be (a free kick).

“As soon as you duck into the tackle, automatic, it has to be your prior.

“I’d go as far as to say it should be a free kick against for ducking into the tackle because of his dangerous it is.

“It’s an issue, it’s a really difficult one for the umpires because when they’re running at full speed it looks violent, it looks like you get them high and your automatic instinct is to blow the whistle.

“I think it’s starting to affect some of their contests which then it becomes a problem.”

King: “Damien Hardwick during the week (on Fox Footy’s AFL 360) said this is a problem with the game.

“If you’re trying to stamp out head trauma and concussion, then this is one method. Maybe he was bringing it up because they were playing Hawthorn, I’m not sure.

“But leading with the head in a tackling situation, if we didn’t reward that with a free kick do you think players would stop this immediately?”

Cornes: “I don’t know because we’ve had high tackles for so long. Some of them are just genuinely high tackles. Nick Watson is hard to tackle. He’s 170 centimetres.

“It’s a real challenge for the game, I think.”

Listen to the discussion below: