Geelong forward Tom Hawkins cops one-match ban for hit on West Coast defender Will Schofield

Tom Hawkins is almost certain to challenge a one-match suspension at the AFL tribunal — an action one AFL great says could haunt the Cats key forward “for the rest of his footy life”.

Tom Hawkins has been suspended for a high hit on West Coast’s Will Schofield. Picture: Michael Klein

Geelong forward Tom Hawkins is staying tight-lipped over his likely appearance at the AFL Tribunal, saying he and the Cats will discuss their options before announcing if they’ll try to beat his striking charge.

Hawkins this morning joined his teammates at GMHBA Stadium as his club prepares for a massive preliminary final with Richmond on Friday night.

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The Cats, with nothing to lose by challenging, appear certain to take their case to the tribunal.

But Hawkins wasn’t revealing anything when fronted by reporters on Sunday morning.

“(I) respect there’s probably a bit of interest in what’s happening but from my point of view I’m just going to work through it with the footy club and try and work out an outcome for the next 24 hours,” the All-Australian full-forward said.

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Tom Hawkins could be cited for his high hit which floored Will Schofield. Picture: AFL

Collingwood premiership player Mick McGuane says Hawkins’ decision to deliver a swingarm punch to West Coast defender Will Schofield on Friday night will have a “dramatic” impact on his team’s fortunes this season and could haunt the key forward “for the rest of his footy life”.

ROBBO: HAWKINS KNEW HE WAS GUILTY

Hawkins became the first AFL player banned since Round 18 when he copped a one-match suspension from match review officer Michael Christian, a finding which puts him out of Friday night’s preliminary final showdown with Richmond.

McGuane said Hawkins was lucky the “undisciplined” action was not punished with a two-week ban, but one week could be all it takes to derail the Cats’ season.

Should the Cats take Hawkins’ case to the AFL Tribunal it could sit as soon as Monday night — knowing they won’t risk any further sanctions.

“He had to get a week,” McGuane said.

“If I’m assessing the action without the medical report or anything — which I’ve always subscribed to it should be action-based not outcome-based — I thought that incident should be a two-week incident for sure.

“It’s absolutely disappointing and Tommy would be shattered in the view he knows he’s let his group down because that’s a controlled situation. If you decide to lift your arm up and errantly swing it and hit an opposition player, you can control that decision you make.

“It’s undisciplined, it’s not needed and the ramifications are dramatic and could have enormous consequence on Geelong’s season now. It’s a decision he will have to own for the rest of his footy life and it will be haunting if they get beaten this week.”

McGuane said Geelong going into a preliminary final without Hawkins swung the game in Richmond’s favour “a lot” after the 2019 All-Australian had returned to form against the Eagles with four goals.

The Cats will almost certainly take Hawkins’ case to the AFL Tribunal — which could sit as soon as Monday night — knowing they won’t risk any further sanctions.

But they face a difficult task arguing that Hawkins’ hit was careless and not intentional because it was so far away from the play.

“He (Hawkins) has got a level of confidence and I guess that’s always the case when you know your intent,” Scott said on Channel 7 last night. “Trying to convince people of the intent can be something different.”

Hawkins, 31, has missed only six of Geelong’s past 110 games, with four of those owing to suspension. That shows that his absence against the Tigers will prove a huge disruption to the Cats’ forward chemistry as Chris Scott looks at a handful of options for his replacement.

Christian graded the off-the-ball incident as intentional conduct, low impact and high contact.

It happened during the third term and left Schofield lying motionless on the ground for a short period of time, with Hawkins reaching down to check on his opponent.

The Eagle eventually got up and played out the game.

But a post-game attempt by Hawkins to apologise to Schofield — who is out of contract and might well have been playing his last game — didn’t end well, with Schofield looking unhappy with the overture.

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That left Fox Footy’s David King to summise the exchange between the two players did not bode well for his match review outcome.

“Not a lot of love, is there?” King said. “I think Tom walked away thinking, ‘I’m in a bit of trouble here’.”

Earlier, Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield held out hope that Hawkins could dodge a ban, given GWS star Toby Greene somehow escaped from his serious misconduct charge with a fine last week.

“Wouldn’t have thought so (Hawkins in trouble) given some of last week’s rulings,” Dangerfield told the Herald Sun.

Hawkins makes contact with Schofield’s head. Picture: Channel 7

Dangerfield said on radio today, before Christian’s ruling: “I’ve seen the (Hawkins) incident, what I will say is what I think in recent weeks in the AFL is moving away from suspensions.

“I agree with the AFL’s approach, you want the best players out there playing so I’d hope there’s consistency in that.”

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Hawkins has missed just one of Geelong’s past 23 finals — the Cats’ 2013 qualifying final loss to Fremantle at GMHBA Stadium.

Fringe Cat Sam Menegola is the only player to boot three goals in a game in Hawkins’ absence over the past two seasons.

It is the ninth time Hawkins has been charged by the match review officer across the past four seasons. He has been found guilty on all occasions, for a total of SIX matches with fines totally $8000.

Originally published as Geelong forward Tom Hawkins cops one-match ban for hit on West Coast defender Will Schofield