Toast Tom Hawkins - a magnificent 350 games

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Jun 21, 2011
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How do you start writing a 'Toast' to a player with the resume of Tom Hawkins

Playing in his 18th season there's not much he hasn't achieved throughout his career, and over the course of his next 6/7 games he'll be etching his name into the record books a few more times...

Tom was selected at pick #41 in the 2006 draft, and after we had already selected Joel Selwood at #7 the AFL decided it was time to make some tweaks to the F&S draft process

He made his senior debut Round 2 of 2007 at Docklands in a 162 to 84 point smashing over Carlton, finishing the match with 8 disposals, 6 marks & 3.2 on the scoreboard. A week later he made his MCG debut against Melbourne in a 52 point win 109 to 57, finishing with 9 disposals, 5 marks & kicking 4.1 in a performance that earned him the Rising Star nomination. He would go on to play another 7 senior matches in 07 for a total of 9 matches in his debut season, and while he didn't make a senior appearance after Round 16 he did play a role in the Geelong VFL team also finishing 07 as Premiers kicking 2 goals in the grand final

2008 was another development year for young Tom playing the first 10 games of the season before continuing his development in the VFL. From 2009 though he started to find himself as more of a regular in the senior team, though that real breakout, "coming of age" match seemed close but never quite grasped with 2 hands

In his first season as coach, Chris Scott made the tough call heading into the 2011 finals that club veteran & 2 time premiership player Cam Mooney would find himself on the outer of our finals campaign as he instead chose to back in 23 yr old Tom Hawkins and on Oct 1 in the 2011 Grand Final, Hawkins played the coming of age game - kicking 3.3 and handing off an assist to Stevie J. It was a game that would kick start the next stage of Tom's career

2012 was Tom's breakout season - heading into round 20 & playing just his 97th career match, he looked every chance to challenge for the Coleman Medal having kicked 14 goals in the 3 games prior, but an early tunnelling incident where Hawkins was knocked out saw him finish with just 1 goal and while he kicked another 14 goals in the last 3 games of the season, he would finish 3 shy of the Coleman. But he didn't walk away empty handed from that season - he earned his first AA Blazer, winner of the Carji and was the first of 11 consecutive Geelong FC leading goal kicker awards

And while 2012 was a high, as the 2013 season went on it looked like it would be the outlier in a career that may have been on the brink of being cut short. Hawkins pushed through an obvious back injury and never seemed to be able to get his season going. Questions would then be asked to what Tom's future looked like, and how much did that fall he suffered in round 20 2012 have an impact on the future of his career - while he may not have been a fav for the 'Mark of the Year', he had shown himself quite agile for a big man, but suddenly he looked like he could barely move

Who knows what happened over that pre-season, but 2014 saw Tom finish with statistically one of his best season & a career high 68 goals across 24 games played. More importantly for Hawkins though, he started to understand his strengths and adapted his game to play in a manner which has continued to cause headaches for opposition coaches and players

We're long told that players "slow" down after 30 but obviously no one told Tom that message - since entering the 2019 season as a 30yr old he's played 117 games, including 90 consecutive matches from round 1, 2020 through to round 21, 2023. During that time he earned himself his first Coleman Medal in 2020, 4 x AA Blazers in 19, 20, 21 & 22, including being named the Captain of the AA Team in 2022. He also won his 3rd premiership on 24 Sept 2022, including kicking the first 2 goals of the match when taking the ball out of the ruck in the forward line - a move that he's made his own and teams still haven't worked out a way to stop

He finished 2013 on 123 games and there was genuine fan uncertainty how many more he may add if his back injury continued to hamper his career...Since 2014 he's played 226 games and:
  • Became just the 6th Geelong player to reach 300 games
  • Round 20 2022 vs Bulldogs, Tom & Joel played their 300th game as teammates

And there's a few milestones this week:
  • The 289th game together for Tom & Chris Scott; will move into equal second on that list (the record is 306, Gordon Coventry and Jock McHale)
  • Requires 1 goal to move into equal 13th on the all-time AFL/VFL goal kicking list
  • Combined 532 games for Jack & Tom Hawkins, moving them into outright 7th for games played by a father & son pairing

But most importantly, he'll become just the second player to run out in the blue & white hoops on 350 occasions, with his great mate Joel being the first - a feat that many may not have thought possible after his 2013 season

Congrats to Tom for all that he's achieved to date and that which he is still to achieve - a true Geelong Legend


 

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A Giant of the Game: Tom Hawkins at 350​

Tom Hawkins' road to 350 games has been anything but ordinary
By Troy Daniel

Tom Hawkins was a month shy of his 20th birthday.

It was mid June 2007, and teammate Darren Milburn was about to celebrate his 200th game for the club. In those days, an honour board used to sit just above Hawkins’ locker, and he remembers looking at it often. This week, on the eve of his 350th game, Hawkins said what that board represented to the club and its players and their families has stuck with him after all these years.

“I think I was taught early on in my career that milestones are really big games for both the individual and for the club to celebrate,” he said on Tuesday. “I've always loved playing in them.”

“In my first year Darren Milburn played in his 200th game and I remember looking at the board which sat just above my locker in the old locker room and it was players that have played 200 games for the Cats and there weren't that many on there and subsequently over the last 17 years there's been a lot added to it but there was always such big emphasis on the milestone games so I can't wait.”

Tom Hawkins’ career is remarkable for so many reasons.

He was the big kid in Finley, a town of 2600 people in the Riverina region of New South Wales, some 350km from Geelong via the M31. Back then, as the son of ‘Jumping’ Jack Hawkins who played 182 games for the Cats between 1973 and 1981, young Tom was always going to be Geelong supporter.

But, as he told everyone who asked, Hawkins jnr had bigger plans. Much bigger.

“It's what I wanted to do as a kid,” he said. “I often would tell whoever asked that what I wanted to do it was to play AFL football and to play for the Cats.”

Eventually, via the 2006 draft, Hawkins would make his way to Kardinia Park, landing in the Cats lap with the #41st pick as a Father/Son s#41stion via Finley Football Club, Melbourne Grammar and Sandringham U18s.

The AFL, especially for the big forwards, had changed rapidly in the years between. The days of the big, glamourous full forward were in their death throes, but many saw Hawkins as someone who could step into the breach left by Tony Lockett, Jason Dunstall et al, but despite his imposing size, Hawkins took time to make his mark on the game.

There were moments. The first person Geelong supporters think of when the 2011 Grand Final comes up is Hawkins. Still a kid, albeit a very big one, he had wrestled the key forward post from Cameron Mooney that season and with James Podsiadley going down in the second quarter, all eyes turned to Hawkins.

Three third quarter goals, and the momentum of the game firmly with the Cats, Hawkins, in 25 minutes of football had repaid all the faith the club, its coaches and its fans, had in him.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing after that, especially when ongoing back issues had some questioning his long term future in the game, as the ghosts of full forwards past crowded the still young full forward.

“There was a time,” Geelong coach Chris Scott recalled this week, “I can't remember exactly when he was having those back issues.. Tom was struggling a little bit physically, but it also occurred through a period of time when I think there was a sense that the game was changing.

“And that maybe that the days of the big strong key forward were numbered, certainly the way the greats of previous generations played, the Dunstall’s and Lockett's, and maybe the game was moving further and further away from that style of player. And while Tom was having back issues at the same time, that kind of made a bit of sense that the game might get harder for him and not easier.”

But the Tom Hawkins story was only just getting started.

He would adapt his game, but in many ways, he doubled down on what he knew he did well on the football field.

“I've never lost sight of the fact that my strengths are my strengths and they've been able to keep me in the game for a long period of time,” he recalled.

“As you're probably well aware, I'm not very fast, I run last in our time trials every year, so I focus on those things that make me a good player and that's my ability to read the game and teammates and move my feet and win one on one contests, and I think I've doubled down and really understood what makes me a good player from week to week.

“There's been some physical changes, I've adapted, as all players do when they're in the game for periods of time, they adapt mentally where they can handle the workload a bit more. I think for the most part I just didn't get caught up in the fact that I can't do some things on the footy field and narrow it into what makes me a good player.”

Two premierships, 349 games and 786 goals later, Hawkins has, remarkably, succeeded expectations, but his real legacy is around selflessness, and his 291 goal assists, third in the game's history, represent not only the Hawkins way but it has become, in many ways the Geelong way.

“I think ultimately it comes back to how I started footy and the lessons I've learnt from my parents over the years, they've very selfless people and I think I've always just believed in if there's people in better spots than you, they deserve the ball”, he said.

“I get just as much enjoyment out of other people kicking goals as I do for myself hitting the scoresheet. Long may that continue, hopefully.”


www.geelongcats.com.au

A Giant of the Game: Tom Hawkins at 350

Tom Hawkins' road to 350 games has been anything but ordinary
www.geelongcats.com.au www.geelongcats.com.au
 
Another fun fact: tom hawkins is only 12 contested marks behind nick riewoldt for the most contested marks in the history of the game since the stat was recorded.

That is huge if he can mow him down
 
Smash em Tomma.. kick a bag.

This one's for you - given that you've set up so many for others.

GO Catters
 
Missed opportunity for 'Tom Hawkins - An insignificant 350 games'
 
It’s been said before. Tom Hawkins is like a quality bottle of red wine. He keeps getting better with age.
 

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My top 10 Hawkins moments:

1. 2012 kick after the siren against the Filth (kicking 6 for the game)
2. Two goals grabbing it out of the ruck in Q1 of 2022 GF
3. Coming of age and tearing Ben Reid to shreds in a Norm-worthy 2011 GF performance (if he had kicked straight)
4. A strong cameo performance in the 2009 GF
5. 6-7 goals in a really wet game at the Gabba circa 2014
6. Kicking 5.3 with 13 marks in an otherwise horrendous 2014 SF.
7. Kicking 7 goals in his first two AFL games in 2007 at age 18.
8. A career best 8 goals at age 34
9. 27 possessions, 12 marks and 6 goals against Carlton in 2017
10. 7 snags v Melbourne in 2018 which I described at the time as “beast mode”
 
  • Thread starter
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cats_09 said:

A Giant of the Game: Tom Hawkins at 350​

Tom Hawkins' road to 350 games has been anything but ordinary
By Troy Daniel

Tom Hawkins was a month shy of his 20th birthday.

It was mid June 2007, and teammate Darren Milburn was about to celebrate his 200th game for the club. In those days, an honour board used to sit just above Hawkins’ locker, and he remembers looking at it often. This week, on the eve of his 350th game, Hawkins said what that board represented to the club and its players and their families has stuck with him after all these years.

“I think I was taught early on in my career that milestones are really big games for both the individual and for the club to celebrate,” he said on Tuesday. “I've always loved playing in them.”

“In my first year Darren Milburn played in his 200th game and I remember looking at the board which sat just above my locker in the old locker room and it was players that have played 200 games for the Cats and there weren't that many on there and subsequently over the last 17 years there's been a lot added to it but there was always such big emphasis on the milestone games so I can't wait.”

Tom Hawkins’ career is remarkable for so many reasons.

He was the big kid in Finley, a town of 2600 people in the Riverina region of New South Wales, some 350km from Geelong via the M31. Back then, as the son of ‘Jumping’ Jack Hawkins who played 182 games for the Cats between 1973 and 1981, young Tom was always going to be Geelong supporter.

But, as he told everyone who asked, Hawkins jnr had bigger plans. Much bigger.

“It's what I wanted to do as a kid,” he said. “I often would tell whoever asked that what I wanted to do it was to play AFL football and to play for the Cats.”

Eventually, via the 2006 draft, Hawkins would make his way to Kardinia Park, landing in the Cats lap with the #41st pick as a Father/Son s#41stion via Finley Football Club, Melbourne Grammar and Sandringham U18s.

The AFL, especially for the big forwards, had changed rapidly in the years between. The days of the big, glamourous full forward were in their death throes, but many saw Hawkins as someone who could step into the breach left by Tony Lockett, Jason Dunstall et al, but despite his imposing size, Hawkins took time to make his mark on the game.

There were moments. The first person Geelong supporters think of when the 2011 Grand Final comes up is Hawkins. Still a kid, albeit a very big one, he had wrestled the key forward post from Cameron Mooney that season and with James Podsiadley going down in the second quarter, all eyes turned to Hawkins.

Three third quarter goals, and the momentum of the game firmly with the Cats, Hawkins, in 25 minutes of football had repaid all the faith the club, its coaches and its fans, had in him.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing after that, especially when ongoing back issues had some questioning his long term future in the game, as the ghosts of full forwards past crowded the still young full forward.

“There was a time,” Geelong coach Chris Scott recalled this week, “I can't remember exactly when he was having those back issues.. Tom was struggling a little bit physically, but it also occurred through a period of time when I think there was a sense that the game was changing.

“And that maybe that the days of the big strong key forward were numbered, certainly the way the greats of previous generations played, the Dunstall’s and Lockett's, and maybe the game was moving further and further away from that style of player. And while Tom was having back issues at the same time, that kind of made a bit of sense that the game might get harder for him and not easier.”

But the Tom Hawkins story was only just getting started.

He would adapt his game, but in many ways, he doubled down on what he knew he did well on the football field.

“I've never lost sight of the fact that my strengths are my strengths and they've been able to keep me in the game for a long period of time,” he recalled.

“As you're probably well aware, I'm not very fast, I run last in our time trials every year, so I focus on those things that make me a good player and that's my ability to read the game and teammates and move my feet and win one on one contests, and I think I've doubled down and really understood what makes me a good player from week to week.

“There's been some physical changes, I've adapted, as all players do when they're in the game for periods of time, they adapt mentally where they can handle the workload a bit more. I think for the most part I just didn't get caught up in the fact that I can't do some things on the footy field and narrow it into what makes me a good player.”

Two premierships, 349 games and 786 goals later, Hawkins has, remarkably, succeeded expectations, but his real legacy is around selflessness, and his 291 goal assists, third in the game's history, represent not only the Hawkins way but it has become, in many ways the Geelong way.

“I think ultimately it comes back to how I started footy and the lessons I've learnt from my parents over the years, they've very selfless people and I think I've always just believed in if there's people in better spots than you, they deserve the ball”, he said.

“I get just as much enjoyment out of other people kicking goals as I do for myself hitting the scoresheet. Long may that continue, hopefully.”


www.geelongcats.com.au

A Giant of the Game: Tom Hawkins at 350

Tom Hawkins' road to 350 games has been anything but ordinary
www.geelongcats.com.au www.geelongcats.com.au
Click to expand...
Do I sense more footy after 2024 reading that last line 🙏
 
Flander said:
Any excuse to relive this:
Click to expand...

I know this is a Hawkins thread, but F*** me the will-power and endeavour of Joel Selwood at 1:02 to get straight back up after taking a hit like that so he can impact the next play. The drive, the tenacity and the self-sacrifice of that guy. It's just on another planet. Never going to see another one like him, are we?
 
1711666043450.png

I'm sure you guys know about Tomahawk's deep Geelong roots both, maternally and paternally.

In becoming the first in his family to 350 career games, here's his maternal side.

Highlighted all have played with Geelong though, in Tim Callan's case, Footscray too.


Edit: And I've just realised I've left Fred Le Deux out.

Fred married Pamela Brushfield, Brian's sister.
 
Last edited:
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A bit more on the second slide - he'll actually move into the outright lead for most games played with Luke Parker currently on the sidelines

1711698881836.png
 
Does anyone else remember the period from 2010 to about mid-2011, where he was completely down on confidence, a bit lost, and for all the world looking like another Ty Vickery type? (Well, at the time we didn't know who that was - so let's say... Kepler Bradley).

I actually remember going to the footy with a mate, and we theorised that Bomber's quarter-time speech was to point at Hawkins and say, "Look fellas. You're not playing well. You're having an ordinary game. But hey, at least you're not this bloke."

Hoooooo boy we were wrong. But we were not alone.
 
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