Geelong coach Chris Scott says it was the right decision to play Tom Hawkins in the opening month of the season
Cats coach Chris Scott believes veteran forward Tom Hawkins will continue to get better throughout the season despite a lacklustre start to the side’s premiership defence.
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Cats coach Chris Scott believes the club has made the right call in the continued selection of veteran forward Tom Hawkins despite his slow start to the season.
The 34 year old had a limited pre-season ahead of 2023 after foot surgery during the summer and has kicked just three goals in the opening three rounds of the season while averaging eight disposals per contest.
Hawkins’ struggles have been highlighted because of the poor start to Geelong’s premiership defence, with the Cats entering the Easter Monday clash at the bottom of the ladder and as the last remaining winless side in 2023.
Scott said Hawkins’ importance to the side’s structure outweighed the struggling start he had made to his 17th AFL season.
“I think Tom has helped us structurally, and that was part of our thinking, he could go out and play poorly but still be a headache for the opposition,” he said.
“The way Tom’s going has not surprised us at all, in fact we’re pleased that he’s got through the first three games, he’ll play again on Monday, get a month of match practice under his belt and improve from there.
“We’ve asked ourselves that one internally (whether Hawkins should have been rested to start the season) … I think it is unanimous, there might be an exception I’m not aware of, but we feel it’s been the right decision, especially given the improvement in him week-on-week.”
The importance in Hawkins will be greater on Monday with forward Ollie Henry set to start as the sub against the Hawks and star Jeremy Cameron still sore after a collision against Carlton in round 2.
Geelong will regain the services of veteran trio Mitch Duncan, Rhys Stanley and Jake Kolodjashnij, who all return from respective injuries, while Tanner Bruhn, Jon Ceglar and Sam De Koning come out of the side.
Scott said Duncan’s return to the side would
“He’s a really good player, clearly, but he’s a really smart player too,” he said.
“Great communicator, great on-field leader, really understands intimately the things that are important to the way we play.
“It can’t be underestimated how big a loss he’s been … one part of our game that has been different, we’ve just had a lack of continuity of those guys who play behind the ball.
“Gradually introducing those guys back into the team can only help.”
‘I wouldn’t be too concerned about the criticism’: Scott sympathises with Hawks over bold list strategy
Chris Scott has drawn comparisons between Geelong’s list strategy to Hawthorn as the two sides prepare to meet on Easter Monday.
The Cats received plenty of criticism for the recruitment of mature-aged players in an attempt to win a premiership in 2022, while the Hawks have regularly been criticised for trading experienced players in an attempt to blood their talented younger players.
Scott said the Hawthorn method was set to be “an interesting case study”.
“I suspect they’re thinking the same things that we are when we get criticised, (and that is) ‘we know what we’re doing, we’re going to stick to the plan, we’ve got confidence in it, if it doesn’t work in the fullness of time then we’ll go back and reassess’,” he said.
“I don’t see anything they’re doing that isn’t logical given they’ve decided to go down that path (of rebuilding).
“I think it’s really interesting to look at the way other clubs go about it and there’s no club out there that isn’t doing something that we can’t learn from.
“If I was them I wouldn’t be too concerned about the criticism.”
Scott said the Hawks, who are sitting above the winless Cats in 17th with just one win to their name, could be a dangerous opponent on Monday.
“I wish they were giving up every week, it doesn’t look like that to me,” he said.
“It looks like they’re similar to a lot of teams in the competition, if they get their game right they’re hard to beat.
“It seems to me they’re playing a style of game that’s really aggressive, and if it doesn’t work in the short term, well that’s probably okay because they’re taking such a long-term view.”
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