Tom Hawkins

[hobart cat]

Kelly was awesome during the Finals series - some of the one percenters he did were jaw-dropping. I still remember that tap he did to Johnson which resulted in an important goal. He will be better this year.

I hate to nitpick, but I guess you cant remember it all that well considering the tap was to Chappy ...who then bombed it long to Moons, who dished off to SJ for the goal...

just sayin'

 

[Pivo]

Can not believe some of the rubbish I am reading about Kelly here. He looked very good from 02-04, suffered a terrible broken leg which hampered his 05 season. He was ordinary in 06 (had plenty of mates there) before being fantastic in a new role last year. Any criticism of him being lazy or not getting the most out of himself is utter garbage or at best one year too late.

Fair point - I guess my comment was more related to the fact that I feel he tends to drift in and out of games which frustrates me no end. Maybe that is all due to the fact that he now plays a different role to the one I expected when he first came onto the scene.

But I am probably being a bit harsh on him 'cause his final series have been terrific to date and that is performing when it counts.

Oh, and Hawkins will be fine. I think next year will be his breakout but he'll be more than handy this year.

 

[THEBLOODS85]

I think these pre season matches would be a good learning curve for this kid. he kicked 8 goals in 4 matches which is a pretty good return for a second year forward. his going to take the best defender week in week out which is good for a few reasons, It makes him gain more exprerience on the bests fullbacks in the country and also's frees up Mooney and S. johnson. What are your comments and what you like to see Tom do.

i think mooney gets the best defender each week......Hawkins probably gets the next or strongest

 

[Mooney_d'King]

No way wll Tom Hawkins attract the oppositions best defender, Mooney will get the best tall defender, Steve Johnson will get the best mid sized defender and Chappy and Stokesy will get the better small defenders.

Hawkins will play on the Ben Holland's, Zac Dawson's and Andrew McDougalls' of the competition, therefore id want to see a marked improvement in his output than what he has showed in the pre season besides the St Kilda game.

I totally agree with you, given Tom's current development. He still hasn't really looked the goods to me yet, but he has shown some promising signs.

 

[gocats88]

i still think he can play a big part in our team. who cares about how many possies he gets a game if he can kick 35-40 goals this season that is a very good effort after one preseason. he should play all 22-25 games Nathan ablett went missing for the whole part of the 2nd half of the season and still got a game. (bar the port adelaide in rd 21 and kangas and again port in the final series). and i thimk tom hawkins has a lot more strings to his bow than Nablett.

 

[TheTimeCometh]

Typical Geelong forum crapola as usual!

oh (as usual!), the ironing is delicious.


and more strings to his bow? NAb had both sides of his body all sorted. And the touch/hands when the ball was at or near ground level were exceptional.

foward positions, 'specially kp's, are hard coz yer gotta command the ball which requires confidence and the ego to 'want it' and call for it.

Interesting to see how tom goes once this develops. could be this year. could be a while off.

 

[gocats88]

oh (as usual!), the ironing is delicious.


and more strings to his bow? NAb had both sides of his body all sorted. And the touch/hands when the ball was at or near ground level were exceptional.

foward positions, 'specially kp's, are hard coz yer gotta command the ball which requires confidence and the ego to 'want it' and call for it.

Interesting to see how tom goes once this develops. could be this year. could be a while off.

tom can take a contested mark, better kicking for goal and he's also got good on the deck also remember the saints game when he bent down and gave it of to mooney in the goal sqaure. oh yea and he has a better vertical leap too.

 

[TheTimeCometh]

contested - yup

better kicking for goal - potentially debatable. distance - fer sure

balance - NAb

intuition - NAb

vertical leap - i'll take yer word for it.



the idea of "more strings" to me, seems like drawing a long bow.

 

[Partridge]

As for Hawkins, its his second year. Am prepared to be patient. We have enough fire power for the moment. I see him as more of a replacement for Mooney in a couple of years. Make him play out half the season or so - if he is good form come Finals time throw him in there, if not have a player like James Kelly just add that bit more firepower.

With Mooney, Johnson, Stokes, Chapman etc etc running around up there, I think we will be fine regardless.

Sorry I have to disagree. With Ablett gone, the club will want Hawkins to play every game this year. We need him AND Mooney in the team at once, as you must have two key forwards.

As promising as Lonergan has looked at times, I'd argue Hawkins has always looked better. He's our full forward now.

 

[BigKegs]

Hawkins will not be able to play a full season. He has shown he's got the goods (he can kick!) but his fitness still needs improving and he'll need to adjust to the pace of AFL footy. I'll give him a couple more years before he takes off but i'll be happy to see him do it over the next couple of weeks!

 

[winty]

I think Hawkins will have two advantages over what Nathan brought to the table. One is his eagerness to be there. At times last season it looked like Nathan wasn't applying himself as well as he could be, whether that was a lack of interest or a lack of confidence in his own ability.

The second is that he has a presence on the football field, and leads strongly and gives a genuine target for the midfield to kick to. I don't think Nathan did that enough last season.

His fitness has improved too. I was particularly impressed in the inter-club practice match when he once chased from deep in the forward line to centre wing. Last year he wouldn't have been able to do that.

I'm hoping we see him kick about 35-40 goals this season, and I feel he will actually improve as the season goes along and he gets more confident working alongside Mooney, and more accustomed to the pace of senior football.

 

[cozdawg#09]

HF: Chapman Mooney S. Johnson

HB: Blake/Ottens Gamble Stokes


Could work? Mooney and Blake/Ottens taking the 1st two talls with S. Johnson taking the third (like he did much of in '07) and Gamble's marking and not to mention leaping ability could provide headaches.

My point being if Hawkins isn't ready then it wouldn't be wise to rush him into first class footy. Gamble has proved via the pre-season that he is more than ready to take the reins.

Hawkins has a lot of expectation on him and I know a lot of people like to give it the old "no pressure on Hawkins he's just a kid" but it's fair to say that he's fully aware of what people are expecting of him and his potential. You'd hate to ruin his confidence by rushing him into the game and you'd hate to keep denying Gamble after his efforts.

 

[Partridge]

My point being if Hawkins isn't ready then it wouldn't be wise to rush him into first class footy. Gamble has proved via the pre-season that he is more than ready to take the reins.

Hawkins has a lot of expectation on him and I know a lot of people like to give it the old "no pressure on Hawkins he's just a kid" but it's fair to say that he's fully aware of what people are expecting of him and his potential. You'd hate to ruin his confidence by rushing him into the game and you'd hate to keep denying Gamble after his efforts.

Sorry but I have to politely disagree. Hawkins is ready. He's much, much fitter than last year and has shown some encouraging signs in the preseason. Everything we've seen of him so far indicates he learns fast, a full year at senior level and I would expect major improvement.

Remember also, you can't really compare him to Gamble - they're different types of players. Gamble is a half-forward, therefore he's fighting for a spot against Chappy, Steve Johnson and Stokes. He's going to have a tough time getting a game, because you can't pick him ahead of those three. Hawkins is a key forward, so his only real competition is Lonergan, who in my view he's clearly superior to.

Whether there's excess pressure on Hawkins or not I don't think matters, he's drawn lots of attention all his junior career, and it hasn't worried him one bit. On the contrary, I think he thrives on it.

 

[Hood007]

Sorry but I have to politely disagree. Hawkins is ready. He's much, much fitter than last year and has shown some encouraging signs in the preseason. Everything we've seen of him so far indicates he learns fast, a full year at senior level and I would expect major improvement.

Remember also, you can't really compare him to Gamble - they're different types of players. Gamble is a half-forward, therefore he's fighting for a spot against Chappy, Steve Johnson and Stokes. He's going to have a tough time getting a game, because you can't pick him ahead of those three. Hawkins is a key forward, so his only real competition is Lonergan, who in my view he's clearly superior to.

Whether there's excess pressure on Hawkins or not I don't think matters, he's drawn lots of attention all his junior career, and it hasn't worried him one bit. On the contrary, I think he thrives on it.

Well said.
Agree 100%.
Although I think he can take the spot of Byrnes, a winger/flanker.
He played that role in the VFL last year...

 

[dadonis]

Hawkins is shaping up to be the next TonyLockett. I do think he'll need at least a couple more seasons to really hit his stride, but he's already got most of the talent, size and power, now he just needs senior conditioning and he'll explode!

Nathan would have been a different forward - more slick skills and ball control, that old ablett magic. Just not the same power type forward as the tomohawk. They'll complement each other well, if Nab finds his way back...

Both are a couple of seasons off being truly great

 

[The rabbi]

Whatever the opportunities that Hawkins is able to creat for himself,
the big fella' s sheer size may create some good opportunities for smaller forwards like Chapman, Stokes, Johnson and Gamble.

 

[haywood jablome]

I want to see Hawkins throw his weight around, I heard him say it would be a bigger part of his game this year.

 

[dustyy]

Winty you have it 100 per cent right. Tom Hawkins wants to be there and he is a giant ready to unleash his talents on the competition in the next few years. AFL foootball is all about wanting to be out there and the Tomahawk will deliver. Go Cats.