Hawkins to retire at season’s end

THREE-time Geelong premiership star Tom Hawkins will retire at the conclusion of Geelong’s 2024 AFL season.

The club’s games record-holder informed his teammates of the news earlier today (Tuesday, August 6).

To date, Hawkins has played 359 games in the hoops, as well as booting 796 goals.

He was a member of Geelong’s 2009, 2011 and 2022 AFL Premiership teams, as well as playing in the Cats’ 2007 VFL premiership side, and is an 11-time club leading goalkicker who also claimed the 2020 Coleman Medal.

Hawkins is a third-generation Cats player, following in the footsteps of his maternal grandfather Fred Le Deux and father Jack Hawkins.

Having played his junior football with Finley (in New South Wales), Melbourne Grammar and Sandringham Under 18s, Hawkins was drafted with the 41st selection in the 2006 National Draft under the father-son rule, debuting in Round 2, 2007 and kicking three goals in a 78-point victory against Carlton.

After a coming-of-age finals series in 2011, Hawkins cemented his spot as the Cats’ spearhead, and won the club’s leading goalkicker award every year from 2012 to 2022.

A powerful forward with strong hands and a reliable set shot, Hawkins’ football is also characterised by his selflessness: he has dished off 296 goal assists over his career, and also had 2,011 score involvements since 2012.

Hawkins is also renowned for his ability to manufacture a goal from the ruck contest when he takes on hit-out duties in the forward line, as he did for the first two goals of the 2022 AFL Grand Final.

As much as Hawkins has been a giant on-field for the Cats, he has also been a leader off-field, particularly in the community space.

With a vast history of visits to junior football clubs, schools and hospitals, involvement in delivery of Cats Wishes and much more, Hawkins’ contributions off-field were recognised when he received the Cat’s AFL Club Community Champion Award in 2019.

The Cats’ general manager of football Andrew Mackie, who played alongside Hawkins from 2007 to 2017, celebrated Hawkins’ enormous contribution to the Geelong Football Club.

“Tom has been an incredible presence both on and off the field at Geelong for the past 18 years, with his ability to play consistently at an elite level, along with humility and care for his teammates, trademarks of his career,” Mackie said.

“He is a generational player who will rightly be celebrated for his achievements on field, as well as the role he has played shaping our club into what it is today.

“We thank Tom, his wife Emma, and their children Arabella, Primrose and Henry for all they’ve given our club.”

Hawkins is nearing return from a foot injury that has ruled him out since Round 15, and is hoping to return to the field before the 2024 season is out to help the Cats push towards another finals campaign.