But Kiewa-Sandy Creek's Nick Beattie admits his accuracy is still an issue.

Last season's best-and-fairest winner booted eight on Saturday to help the Hawks defeat Thurgoona by 75 points at Tangambalanga.

That followed Beattie's bag of 16 against Wahgunyah in round 10 and another 11 in the win over Wodonga Saints.

So it must be coming off the boot nicely, right?

"You would think that but I've actually missed a lot," the 33-year-old laughed.

"My goal-kicking hasn't been fantastic.

"I probably missed six or seven on Saturday and against Wahgunyah I probably missed into double-figures.

"My marking's been the key lately, I've been able to hold marks whereas earlier in the year I was double-grabbing stuff and not quite getting hold of the footy.

"It's good to kick a couple of goals.

"At the start of the year I wasn't playing the best I possibly could but I'm going alright now, getting a bit of form in.

"It's just improved as the season's gone on.

ALSO IN SPORT:

"I had a pretty slow start to the year, I missed three-quarters of the pre-season because of injury but over the last few weeks it's been good to have a consistent run.

"I stuffed my finger in the last game of last year, tore a couple of tendons and thought I was going to get it fixed over the break but it never got fixed in the end.

"The first few games were tough, finding my legs, but it seems to be going alright now."

The Hawks moved top of the ladder on Saturday, taking advantage of Chiltern's defeat to Beechworth by registering their seventh successive win.

After a summer which saw Jack Neil replace Adam Mudra as senior coach, little has changed when it comes to Kiewa Sandy-Creek's winning mentality.

"He's been a breath of fresh air," Beattie said of Neil.

"Both coaches are fantastic and Muddy was awesome, he was my junior coach when I played thirds at Wodonga.

"Jack's been great, though, he's lifted our professionalism a touch and it's been good.

"We've got a good mixture between the young blokes and older blokes. We're a really close-knit group, there's no cliques at the club, we all hang out together.

"I suppose I was the oldest at Wodonga by a few years but here there's a lot of blokes around my age still kicking around."

The Hawks will finish the home-and-away season with games against Chiltern, Beechworth, Yackandandah and Barnawartha.

"It's pretty tight at the top but we've still got another gear we can step into once we have a full side," Beattie said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: