Tom Hawkins looks back on career ahead of 350th match against Hawthorn on Easter Monday
There have been some AFL rule changes Tom Hawkins believes are at least partly his doing, but the Cat has also altered perceptions in his hugely influential 350 games of footy.
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If the mark of a significant AFL career is on how much a player impacts or changes the game, Geelong superstar forward Tom Hawkins sits right up there in the absolute elite of company.
The 35-year-old is, quite literally, a game changer.
He has impacted the game in more ways than he could have imagined as a kid growing up in Finley, New South Wales, dreaming of wearing the Geelong hoops, like his father ‘Jumping’ Jack Hawkins.
As he prepares to play his 350th game for the Cats on Easter Monday against Hawthorn, Hawkins can see the funny side of how he has helped to change part of the AFL landscape.
For a start, his “goal” late in the second term of the 2009 grand final - the vision showed it deflected off a goalpost - was the catalyst for the AFL’s investment in goal technology to stop the howlers.
His kick ultimately led to the introduction of a score review system in 2012.
Hawkins’ role in two of his three Cats’ premierships (2009 and 2011), coupled with the contribution of teammates Gary Ablett and Matthew Scarlett, led to a reassessment of the father-son rule from the AFL, with the introduction of a bidding system in 2015.
“I feel like there have been a few rule changes partly because of me in my career,” Hawkins said this week.
“They changed the father-son (system) after Geelong picked up (Gary) Ablett and (Matthew) Scarlett, and I might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“Then, there was the goal review and there have been a few other things as well.”
Hawkins has also changed perceptions during his time in the game.
His outstanding form into his early to mid 30s is something that few big power forwards have been able to achieve at the back end of their careers.
He shares a record with Gary Ablett Sr as the only players to have made four All-Australian sides beyond their 30th birthdays.
And while most of the 24 individuals who have reached the 350-game VFL-AFL milestone have been wiry midfielders or lean key position players, Hawkins is about to overtake Buddy Franklin as the biggest to reach that benchmark.
According to AFL 2023 - the last time player weights were recorded in the league’s official season guide - Hawkins was listed as 105kg, with Franklin sitting at 102kg.
His on-field power has been a huge part of his success, but so too his canny forward craft.
Hawkins has made an art form of keeping opposition ruckmen on red alert by regularly stealing the ball from ruck throw-ins in Geelong’s attack. He produced the perfect scene-setting with the opening two goals of the 2022 grand final.
“I have never really been able to put my finger on (why he has played so much football),” Hawkins said. “I honestly think it is a combination of a few different things.
“Genetically, I have been lucky for what my parents (Jack and his late mother Jennifer) have given me.
“I suppose the way I play might be a bit conducive to longevity. I don’t cover a huge amount of k’s (kilometres) in games, but when I move, I can move pretty sharply.
“I am not super combative. A lot of my ball is generally won in a contest, but the other part is that the Cats have always seemed to find a way to play in the finals.
“In all but two of my 17 (completed seasons), I have played finals, so I’ve been able to play lots of games through the finals (32 games, which is fourth on the VFL-AFL ledger).”
The 2020 Coleman medallist and five-time All-Australian said part of his longevity comes from his continued passion for the game.
“In a way, I enjoy it more than when I first started, because you build such a bank of knowledge on how to play certain situations,” he said.
“I certainly still play my fair share of poor games, but I have just learnt so much over the journey and it allows you to pull different strings in a game if things aren’t going your way or you can’t find the footy.
“It is a privilege to still be doing what I am doing after all these years.”
‘LIKE AN 18YO LOCKETT’
Hawkins made such an impact in his three-goal AFL debut game against Carlton in round 2, 2007 that Blues coach Denis Pagan tagged him a star of the future.
Pagan said: “He (Hawkins) looks a likely type and I couldn’t help but think he is an 18-year-old Tony Lockett.”
Hawkins’ maiden game was Joel Selwood’s second - the two country kids both possessed a hard-competitive edge, and were born 56 days apart - and it is fitting that they would go on to become Geelong legends.
Hawkins wasn’t worried about Pagan’s Lockett comparisons at the time.
“I never saw that as pressure. I can certainly remember that part of it (Pagan’s words), it sort of excited me more than anything.”
He kicked four goals in his second game, and played 10 games in his debut year, but wasn’t in the Cats’ drought-breaking premiership side later that season.
In fact, he took time to establish himself in the Cats’ line-up, but the lessons in those early years - derived from some of the club’s greatest players - have remained with him.
“I was a Geelong supporter growing up, so unfortunately I knew the history of the football club,” he said. “(The Cats) were so good for such a long period of time, but (they) couldn’t quite convert … that’s elite football, premierships are hard to win.”
Hawkins’ father Jack played in only eight finals from his 182 games - for only two wins.
But Hawkins came to Geelong at a time when a core of senior players set up a template for sustained success.
“I got introduced to the AFL world with a group who were so competitive and they taught me so much about playing and winning,” he said.
“That almost became a part of my DNA as a player. You are trying to replicate those who you loved playing with and I was incredibly lucky to be able to learn from them.
Hawkins is closing in on Selwood’s Geelong games record of 355. Having kicked 786 goals, he is only 49 goals away from becoming the second-highest Geelong goalkicker of all-time, passing Doug Wade.
“I sort of knew moving into this year that if all went well, there was a possibility of this (reaching Selwood’s games record),” he said.
“But this is Joel’s record and he deservedly holds it. (At the moment) I’m just thinking about running out with the kids (for the 350th this week) and enjoying that with my family.”
CHALLENGES AND FLAGS
Hawkins is proud of overcoming obstacles in a career that will almost certainly one day end in an Australian Football Hall of Fame elevation.
He took several seasons to become the player everyone knew he could be, and even after playing a modest role in the 2009 flag, it wasn’t until the second half of a grand final two years after this that he came of age as a player.
The Cats were locked in an epic struggle with Collingwood in that 2011 premiership playoff when his teammate James Podsiadly was subbed out with injury.
Hawkins came to the fore in a stunning second half.
“My two (AFL) coaches (Mark Thompson and Chris Scott) have been strong pillars in my football career,” he said.
“‘Bomber’ (Thompson) taught me some things that at the time I didn’t quite understand as a young boy, but I can reflect back now and see how important some of those lessons were.
“Then Chris (Scott) came in and I was sort of transitioning to find my way to becoming a consistent AFL player at the age of 23.”
Earlier in that 2011 season he had been dropped by Scott after some indifferent form. But he rose to the occasion and ended up being one of the Cats’ best players in the grand final, kicking three goals and having 19 disposals as he collected a second premiership medal.
“I was in and out of the side in the middle part of that year (2011) and I got my chance later in 2011 (in Cameron Mooney’s place),” he said.
“I finally started to play consistently, then in the grand final I played well and I took that confidence into the next year.
“I was a bit more of a passenger in (the 2009) grand final purely because I was surrounded by so many good players.”
Hawkins has three premiership medals - one for each of his kids, daughters Arabella and Primrose and son Henry - but he says as good as the first two flags were, if forced to choose his favourite, he would select the 2022 victory over Sydney.
“It was a bit like the roles were reversed from 2009, I was a senior player (in 2022) and all of those younger players were in the early stages of their career,” he said. “That one (2022) was probably my favourite out of the three premierships, even if they are hard to grade.”
There were other challenges he had to overcome.
There was a serious back injury of 2013, which threatened to blunt his effectiveness as a key forward.
“It’s never as serious when you look back in hindsight, but I really struggled throughout that year,” he said. “It just wore me out. Looking back, I should’ve taken some time out in 2013.
“I was getting great advice and treatment from the physios and from everyone around the club. Thankfully, I was able to overcome it and put it all behind me.”
The death of his mother, Jennifer, in 2015, was “the toughest part of my career”.
A week after her passing, in his 150th game, Hawkins looked up to the skies and kissed his black arm band in a game against North Melbourne.
It led to a tough period where he came under match review scrutiny, with fines and suspensions that were largely borne out of his frustration.
“It was certainly a frustrating period in my life,” he said. “It kind of started after mum passed away. There was no coincidence … I wasn’t enjoying my footy as much.
“I am more of a lover than a fighter, but I think it was a period of my life when I was a little bit frustrated.
“I’ve certainly had the ebbs and flows … those (20)16 and (20)17 seasons were very much down on the others. But from there it was almost like I have worked through that really hard period and found some of the things that have worked for me.”
Despite those challenges, Hawkins had a streak of 11 consecutive seasons (2012 to 2022) where he won the Cats’ goal-kicking award, and four of his five All-Australian blazers have come from 2019 onwards.
Family remains at the heart of everything that Hawkins does.
“My mum and dad gave me so much … they devoted so much of their lives to me and to my siblings and we’ll forever be grateful,” he said.
“They have been wonderful role models and now with (wife) Emma and I having a family of our own, we are trying to emulate the positive impact our parents had on our lives.”
FAVOURITE GOAL AND WHY HE DOESN’T MIND GIVING THEM AWAY
Ask Hawkins which of the 786 goals he has kicked is his favourite, and two immediately spring to mind.
The first is easy to pick; the second still means a lot to him 17 years on.
His first was the match-winning major he kicked - his sixth for the game - for the Cats against Hawthorn in round 19, 2012.
Geelong had led by 51 points early in the game before Hawthorn managed to claw its way back into the contest. The Hawks led by four points with less than a minute left before Selwood and Hawkins intervened.
A Selwood pass found Hawkins and his goal after the siren added another chapter to the Cats-Hawks’ modern rivalry.
“Premierships are the games you remember,” he said when asked about his favourite games and goals.
“But individually (as far as goals go), the one after the siren against Hawthorn is the one.”
Incredibly, Hawkins has played in a record 12 games decided by a kick after the siren, two of them off his own boot. In 2017 he kicked a behind to draw a game with the Giants.
His second favourite goal was his first, against Carlton in 2007, which “came from the right hand side of 50, and I reckon I kicked it from left to right too.”
But what sets the Geelong veteran apart from many of the forwards of the past is that he derives as much pleasure giving a goal away as kicking them himself.
He has a strong goal assist record which comes from the lessons he learnt from those Cats forwards early in his career.
“People ask me from time to time (why he likes goal assists), I suppose my parents had such an impact on me because they were so selfless,” he said.
“I like to think a bit of selflessness comes out of me in a footy sense.
“This has been moulded through some of my previous teammates in (Cameron) Mooney, (Mathew) Stokes and Shannon Byrnes, and Stevie (Johnson) and ‘Chappy’ (Paul Chapman) … those guys got great pleasure in passing off as well.”
Besides, he insists, “I’ve got a lot of teammates who have given me a lot of my nearly 800 goals.”
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