Tom Hawkins is announcing himself

[scruffydog]

Re: Tom Hawkins

Surely only time can answer this question...

We'll all find out next year.

 

[Bomber32]

Re: Tom Hawkins

Hawkins was brilliant on Saturday and I thought he should have won the Norm Smith Medal. He is starting to show big glimpses of what everyone thought he is capable of and he now should be focused on putting in these sort of performances every week.

He'll get a lot of confidence from this finals series, no doubt.

 

[SJ]

Re: Tom Hawkins

He's been good to very good since he has been played as a permanent forward from Round 17 onwards.

Most of us on the Geelong Board have been calling for him to be taken out of the second ruck position for over a year. Finally it happened and paid dividends.

 

[Smyth94]

Hawkins was awesome on Saturday and would've had the Norm Smith had he converted his shots on goal. I'd say goal kicking will be the difference between him being a very good player to a star.

However, there is a lot of romance with players who step up in finals, I would like to see that far more often during a season before I truly believe he is a bona fide star.

 

[TheWoodenSlug]

Re: Tom Hawkins

He's been good to very good since he has been played as a permanent forward from Round 17 onwards.

Most of us on the Geelong Board have been calling for him to be taken out of the second ruck position for over a year. Finally it happened and paid dividends.

Exactly. I remember how excited I was when I saw the teams for the Brisbane match and it included both Hawkins and West, meaning Hawkins was in as a pure forward. Has been very good since then.

Also, he should have won the Norm Smith in my opinion, though having $50 on him at $101 might have something to do with it! Bartel was certainly a worthy winner though and my man love for him is getting ridiculous now after the Norm Smith and then seeing him dressed as a school girl...(no homo)

 

[terry_bright]

Re: Tom Hawkins

He's been good to very good since he has been played as a permanent forward from Round 17 onwards.

Most of us on the Geelong Board have been calling for him to be taken out of the second ruck position for over a year. Finally it happened and paid dividends.

+1.

At the start of the year my concern for the Cats was the ruck, 2nd ruck and chf. Would Ottens body hold up? Who played 2nd ruck? If Hawkins played 2nd ruck who would be chf?

The form of Ottens & in particular West in nailing down the 2nd ruck spot, allowed Tom to play in his best position. His confidence grew, he felt settled and the performances started to come. The Domino effect.

Reminds me a bit of when Ottens arrived at the Cats and we tried to turn him into a key fwd rather than play him in his best position the ruck. I understand injuries and other factors may prevent this but sometimes (in fact most of the time) playing players in their best positions (Ottens, Hawkins, Lonergan) is the best policy and you get the greater results. The KISS method.

 

[YOTC]

Re: Tom Hawkins

He's been good to very good since he has been played as a permanent forward from Round 17 onwards.

Most of us on the Geelong Board have been calling for him to be taken out of the second ruck position for over a year. Finally it happened and paid dividends.

Chris Scott on OTC tonight, here's some quotes I managed to catch re: Hawkins.


"The work that Tom had to as a backup ruckman earlier in the year, probably negatively influenced his output as a key forward."

"That is as significantly as big of a change as we've made during the year, bring in the 2nd ruckman, initially with Vardy who unfortunately got injured. Tom being able to focus on purely being a key forward has helped him."

Basic admission that the ruck experiment was hindering and not helping.

Some of the best posters on the Geelong board were calling for Hawkins to help Pods when he started to become double/triple teamed from the 2nd half of Hawthorn onwards.

Glad they listened to these Geelong posters and didn't read the "Trade Hawkins to St. Kilda" thread.

 

[SJ]

Re: Tom Hawkins

A little more on this. His grand final performance didn't surprise me as much as it seems it surprised everyone else because Hawkins has actually been pretty good as a key forward since Round 17. Furthermore he has also allowed Podsiadly more breathing space as Podsiadly was previously being double-teamed since the second half of the Round 12 match against Hawthorn.

Hawkins' figures (per game)
Round 1 to Round 14 (9 games)/Round 17 to Grand Final (9 games)
Kicks: 5.8/8.1
Handballs: 4.7/6.2
Disposals: 10.4/14.3
Marks: 3.8/6.0
Contested marks: 1.1/3.6
Marks inside 50: 0.9/3.7
Hitouts: 6.8/1.6
Goals: 0.4/2.4
Behinds: 0.4/1.4
Goal assists: 0.4/1.1

Now, granted, Geelong did have two huge wins in that second block but Hawkins' numbers weren't any greater in those than the average. And actually only four games of the first block were against eventual finalists but five matches from the second block were against finalists.

 

[Partridge]

Re: Tom Hawkins

A little more on this. His grand final performance didn't surprise me as much as it seems it surprised everyone else because Hawkins has actually been pretty good as a key forward since Round 17. Furthermore he has also allowed Podsiadly more breathing space as Podsiadly was previously being double-teamed since the second half of the Round 12 match against Hawthorn.

Hawkins' figures (per game)
Round 1 to Round 14 (9 games)/Round 17 to Grand Final (9 games)
Kicks: 5.8/8.1
Handballs: 4.7/6.2
Disposals: 10.4/14.3
Marks: 3.8/6.0
Contested marks: 1.1/3.6
Marks inside 50: 0.9/3.7
Hitouts: 6.8/1.6
Goals: 0.4/2.4
Behinds: 0.4/1.4
Goal assists: 0.4/1.1

Now, granted, Geelong did have two huge wins in that second block but Hawkins' numbers weren't any greater in those than the average. And actually only four games of the first block were against eventual finalists but five matches from the second block were against finalists.

Those are extremely compelling statistics I'd argue. The contested marks, marks inside 50 and goals alone are almost conclusive in their own right. Plus the fact that his form actually got better once the finals started.

Ruckman no more.

 

[Burzum]

Re: Tom Hawkins

Bump.6

 

[ManOfClay]

Re: Tom Hawkins

Reserve it for a game where is isn't playing on Shoenmakers.

 

[Summer Nights]

Or a game where he doesn't ragdoll Ben Reid.

 

[AG]

Nah, big game, don't care who he was on. He was running himself into the ground to hit up on the wing in the last. He has arrived as far as I'm concered and another example of why some put a line through young players way too early.

 

[Shane_Mag]

Worked very hard today. So don't doubt him just cause he played on a spud today.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Still can't kick , but has come in in leaps and bounds. A monster up forward now for the club. Was more important than Buddy

 

[alfy!]

Re: Tom Hawkins

what a game by the big boy

if only he could kick straight, he would be something really special

 

[PTizzle]

Was a beast today, especially in the second half.

Just needs to back himself and improve on the longer range set shots.

 

[CF]

Have to admit I wrote him off last year but he has really turned it around and proven me wrong (which isn't hard). Good on Tommahawk, the new Travis Cloke.

 

[bulletproof]

Extaordinary performance, was hunting the ball on the wing like J Brown in that last term.

 

[Spitta09]

Probably owe him an apology hes developed into a pretty good player ill be honest.

His tank has improved HUGELY never seen him run so much around the ground.. unless that was schoenmakers giving him 50 metres maybe a combination

 

[lamaros]

If only he could kick a goal.

 

[Yabba]

Always has had the size. Used to play like Jane, now he is showing throwing himself at the contest and showing the much talked about talent that he is said to have. So many young key forwards around footy will be great to watch for the next few years

 

[Cursed Cat]

Still can't kick , but has come in in leaps and bounds. A monster up forward now for the club. Was more important than Buddy

Mr. Floppy threatened a few times, but Hawkins delivered - perhaps Mr. Floppy could approach Hawkins for some advice on how to take a contested mark.

 

[stanley86]

i'm on board now
that last 3 geelong games I have seen him play (missed rd 1) he has been awesome
dont forgot today was wet and windy and just a pretty ordinary day for big forwards and he just presented and contested and held grabs
I dont follow this just cos he played on "x player", you still have to get out there and have the will and the ethic and the want to do well

 

[stanley86]

Mr. Floppy threatened a few times, but Hawkins delivered - perhaps Mr. Floppy could approach Hawkins for some advice on how to take a contested mark.

who? what have I missed?