Hawthorn young gun Jai Newcombe has once again caught the attention of the fans after putting in a strong performance in his side's close loss to GWS on Saturday.

It marks Newcombe’s third fan-voted MVP for this year, after also earning accolades in Round 5 - which was also against the Giants - and Round 13.

Although it was a disappointing loss for the brown and gold, Newcombe continued to toil away in the young Hawks midfield as he collected a team-high 28 touches at a very impressive disposal efficiency of 89.3 per cent.

The 21-year-old, who has played only 45 career games, was damaging for the Hawks as they went into attack finishing with a game-high nine clearances alongside a team-high eight score involvements and seven inside 50s.

By the end of the second quarter, he had won a game-high seven clearances – with three of these resulting in a goal for the Hawks. 

Newcombe has continued his rise towards a top-line midfielder this year following a stellar 2022, where he took out Hawthorn's overall fan-voted MVP for the season, as well as claiming the AFL Coaches Association Best Young Player and finishing runner-up in the club's best and fairest.

Speaking post-game on Saturday, Newcombe said his young midfield group were determined to improve in the later half of the season. 

"It's been pretty tough over the last month, we haven't really been in the form that we've liked as a whole midfield," Newcombe said.

"We've had some hard conversations during the week and it was nice to come out and respond and get back to where we were for a good six weeks during the middle of the season, so hopefully we can continue that going forward." 

Watch Newcombe’s MVP performance from Round 17 below.