Murray: Tom Hawkins to play first match for Finley since 2005

The moment a former Finley Football Club president has waited almost a decade for comes to fruition on Good Friday. Discover the story behind the return.

Finley butcher Ashley Haynes has been patiently waiting for this day for almost a decade.

In his former role as Finley Football-Netball Club president, Haynes wanted to make certain there was no doubt Tom Hawkins would return to play for the club when his AFL career was over.

Haynes has been lifelong friends of the Hawkins family, but didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

A verbal agreement between the pair was reached around 2016 when Hawkins’ contract with the Cats was up for renewal.

Tom Hawkins signs a contract to play for Finley in 2022. Picture: Supplied

It was then formalised in 2022 when Haynes whisked the recently retired Geelong great aside at his grandmother Pat’s funeral wake to sign on the dotted line.

“Binding is probably too strong a word,” Haynes said.

“But it was something we always had when the day finally came.

“We could just tell people ‘when he’s finished at Geelong he’s coming home to play for Finley’ and we had the proof.”

Tom Hawkins on his family farm near Finley. Picture: Jason Edwards

Haynes said Hawkins playing his first senior match for Finley since 2005 on Good Friday against old foes Deniliquin would be a “massive day”.

“There will be people who have never been to a Murray league game,” he said.

“The exposure it will give Finley and the Murray league will be enormous.”

Hawkins’ brilliant AFL career ended last year with three flags, a Coleman Medal and Geelong best and fairest and a record 359 senior appearances for the Cats.

And the 36-year-old wasn’t going to let the Finley faithful down and renege on the contract Haynes had drafted up.

“I always thought I would play until I was 31 or 32 and then come home and play a game for Finley,” he said.

“The contract ended up in the butcher shop window and we’ve just had to extend the year, each year after the initial sign on date.

“I don’t feel indebted.

“But I have a real sense of responsibility to a small country town that gave me so much when it came to footy.”

Finley and Deniliquin play for the Leo Barry-Tom Hawkins Trophy in the longstanding Good Friday clash that is always one of the highest attended matches outside finals.

Finley is the present holders of the trophy that also celebrates the career of Barry, who started out at Deniliquin and played a big part in Sydney’s 2005 flag win with a famous mark late in the match.

Tom Hawkins and father Jack Hawkins at GMHBA Stadium last year. (Photo by Josh Chadwick/Getty Images)

Tom followed in dad Jack’s footsteps in starting his career at Finley and playing for the Cats.

His late mum Jennie’s dad, Fred Le Deux, also played for Geelong.

Before going onto play 183 matches for the Cats from 1973 to 1981, Jack played in Finley’s 1971 premiership team coached by Wally Mumford as a 17-year-old Melbourne Grammar boarder.

He famously scored a lift home the night before in a cousin’s cattle truck returning to Finley from the Melbourne Show before being back at school on Monday morning.

Jack also played in Finley’s grand final loss 12 months later with both clashes against Deniliquin, deepening an already strong Murray league rivalry.

Tom’s uncle Robb was Finley coach when he played at senior level for the first time in 2005 and was a also boarder at Melbourne Grammar.

“He was also in year 11 and was still eligible for the thirds,” Robb said.

“He played the two games, but we weren’t that strong at the time.

“The first one he played we won, but the second one we got beat.

“He was starting to standout and in year 12 he didn’t play with us at because of school footy and other commitments.

“But at least he got a couple in.”

Tom Hawkins played a club record 359 matches for Geelong. Pic: Michael Klein

Hawkins, predictably, grew up a Geelong supporter, but attended more Finley matches than Cats games in the AFL, developing longstanding memories of the deeds of players such as Damian Sexton, Darren and Glenn Jackson, Matt Clarke, Matt Kelly and Kerry Brain.

“I always remember the really good senior players for Finley when I was aged six to 12,” Hawkins said.

“I idolised some of those guys just as much as I did Billy Brownless and Gary Ablett Senior because I was there at training during the week and then on Saturday mornings played in the under-14s and then stuck around all day and watched them.”

Hawkins invited the Finley under-14s down to form a guard of honour for his 350th match for the Cats last year.

Tom Hawkins is working part-time for Nutrien in 2025. Picture: Supplied

Finley lost the 2024 grand final in heartbreaking fashion by one point to Congupna with an injured Hawkins keeping tabs on the scores from the physios room at the MCG before the Cats were run down by Brisbane in the preliminary final.

“I thought we were going to hang on,” he said.

“But to lose by a point was pretty shattering for the team and the community because they’ve had a couple of pushes.

“It’s always hard to retain players.

“But Finley bats above our weight a lot of the time.”

Hawkins will only play one match for Finley this season as he juggles a mix of part-time roles with Nutrien and Fox Footy.

Originally published as Murray: Tom Hawkins to play first match for Finley since 2005