Amid swirling speculation that Hawthorn Football Club has secured a commitment from one of the Australian Football League’s top attacking talents, head coach Sam Mitchell has kept his demeanor light while declining to reveal details of the club’s off-season forward line plans. Just 24 hours after Hawthorn locked in new contracts for established key forwards Jack Gunston and Mitch Lewis, multiple reports emerged indicating star Gold Coast Suns forward Ben King has selected the Hawks as his desired destination when free agency opens. The 20-something Victorian-born talent has long been tipped to leave the Gold Coast to return to his home state, with industry sources suggesting King has fewer than five weeks remaining as a contracted Gold Coast player.
When pressed by reporters on Thursday morning about the ongoing Ben King rumors, Mitchell leaned into his familiar running joke about AFL’s mandatory player contract announcement timing, dodging a direct answer with characteristic humor. “Is there speculation about that? I hadn’t heard that one,” Mitchell joked when asked directly about King’s potential move. “I think 6.20 in six months’ time, that’s when you’ll find out about what we’ll do with the forward line. Whatever it looks like, there’s so much water to go under the bridge between now and whatever that looks like next season. First and foremost we’ll be very heavily focused on the players that are within these walls right now, making sure we can get the best out of them in the finals campaign in front of us.”
The recent double re-signing of Gunston and Lewis, paired with the potential addition of King, has pushed exciting young development prospect Calsher Dear further down the club’s forward line depth chart. But Mitchell has pushed back against any concerns about the 20-year-old’s future, urging patience for the rising talent while highlighting his consistent strong work and development progress at the reserve level.
“I mean his game on the weekend was really good,” Mitchell said of Dear. “We’ve been working on a few things and there’s always a lag effect to learning and when you try some things with a player like Calsher. He’s 20 years old as a key forward, I’m really pleased with his progress and he jumped out of the blocks as an 18-year-old. Then he’s had some injury and hasn’t done a full pre-season, so with someone like him he’s every chance coming in as soon as this week. But his form on the weekend was a big step in the right direction for what we’re after from him, so I’m pleased with how he’s developing.”