Nick Watson stands 170cm tall and weighs 61 goals in the 2026 AFL season. He also stands five goals behind Charlie Curnow in the race for the Coleman Medal, awarded each year to the league's leading goalkicker.

Watson kicked five — his equal-career-best — in Hawthorn's 16-point win over North Melbourne, lifting his season tally to 52 and into second place on the Coleman leaderboard ABC News. That haul put him past 50 goals for the year, making him the first player since Syd Dyer and Lou Richards in 1946 to reach that mark at 170cm or shorter ABC News.

The company above him is tall. Leader Charlie Curnow, a 194cm Sydney forward and two-time Coleman winner, sits on 57 goals. Ben King of Gold Coast, a 202cm spearhead, has 53 ABC News. Watson is 21 years old, 61 games into his career, and nicknamed "The Wizard" — and he is outscoring players who dwarf him.

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell, who re-signed with the club until the end of 2030, said the Hawks would celebrate a Coleman Medal if Watson got there but would not restructure their game plan to feed him ABC News.

"We're not going to go out of our way to target him," Mitchell said.

The Hawks sit third on the ladder at 14-5-1 and face Brisbane at the Gabba on Friday night before rounding out the home-and-away season against Collingwood and West Coast ABC News. Three games remain for Watson to close a five-goal gap.

Hawthorn have selection concerns for the Brisbane clash. Ned Reeves (knee), Karl Amon (knee), Mitch Lewis (concussion) and Henry Hustwaite (face) are all under injury clouds ABC News.

Off the field, Hawthorn received a clean slate for Connor Macdonald, who had charges formally dismissed by an American court after his off-season misadventure. Macdonald and teammate Dylan Moore spent a night in a US jail after being charged with trespassing for climbing onto a cherry picker, and had previously agreed to complete a substance abuse counselling program ABC News.

Curnow's lead is not bulletproof. He has been in strong form — bags of four, five and six goals across the past month — but Watson has been closing ground fast and now trails by five rather than the wider margins seen earlier in the season AFL.com.au.

What makes this race compelling is the contrast. Curnow and King are key-position forwards — the tall targets teams build attacks around. Watson is a small forward, a crumber and creator who lives on ground-level brilliance rather than contested marks. In a leaderboard surrounded by giants, "The Wizard" is the odd one out, and he is not out of it.

Before the season, AFL experts tipped Curnow for the Coleman and Watson to kick 50 goals AFL.com.au. Both predictions are on track. Only one can hold the medal.