Geelong 2023: Mark Blicavs says Tom Hawkins’ leadership is appreciated after stern address to defenders

A Cats star has responded following an animated address from Tom Hawkins directed at Geelong’s back six during his side’s loss to Brisbane.

Tom Hawkins got animated on Saturday evening. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

Experienced Cat Mark Blicavs maintains the “white line fever” of star goalkicker Tom Hawkins is appreciated after his blow-up at his defensive teammates in Geelong’s loss to Brisbane on Saturday.

Hawkins gave the Cats back six a stern address late in the second term after a Brisbane goal, with vision showing him punching his open palm.

The key forward, who turned 35 last week, had his coloured lowered against the Lions, held goalless for just the second time this season and collecting four touches.

Blicavs said that Hawkins’ passionate leadership “awesome” and that his competitiveness and care is one of the reasons why his teammates love playing alongside him.

He said Hawkins’ message was a reminder about “fundamentals” and quipped that it was a rare sighting inside the defensive arc for the 11-time Cats leading goalkicker.

Tom Hawkins gives his defenders a piece of his mind. Picture: Fox Footy

“It doesn’t happen too often that he is in the D50 too,” Blicavs joked.

“It’s awesome, we love Hawk, he’s so caring, he loves the club, it comes from a good place. He wants to win, he gets white line fever when he steps onto the footy field, he’s so competitive.

“We need that, it is great leadership. He might be seeing something from the end that we aren’t seeing so we always welcome it.

“Vice versa if Stewy goes down and gives the forwards something that would very well respected too.

“It was just a bit more about fundamentals, if we can nail the fundamentals of the game it goes a long way to going for the win so it was a bit of that, a bit of a reminder about how we want to play.”

Hawkins wasn’t the only one to get animated, with Blicavs saying he had to tell Zach Tuohy to “relax” after the veteran defender got in some back and forth with Lions players before halftime.

Blicavs believed the Lions tried to get under their skin, particularly when the game was on the home side’s terms in the first half.

“I remember telling Reggie to ‘relax mate, let’s go let’s go’ at halftime. We mentioned Hawk but Reggie is the other one, pretty firey character. But it helps him play well too, I reckon it gets him in the game and keeps his focus,” he said.

“They are a really competitive team. Their tackling was really fierce. They were obviously ahead at the time, I think it is something they like to do and I suppose we just talked about focusing on us and not trying to buy into too much of that during the game.”

Originally published as Geelong 2023: Mark Blicavs says Tom Hawkins’ leadership is appreciated after stern address to defenders