We Don't Talk Enough About The Greatness Of Tom Hawkins

There has been no more under-appreciated player by AFL fans in recent memory than Tom Hawkins.

Undoubtedly one of Geelong’s greatest ever forwards and indeed, one of the best in the entire league since the turn of the century, Hawkins’ continued elite-level output is a testament to the constant evolvement of his game.

To kick off the 2022 season against Essendon, the 303-game player had 17 disposals, 8 marks, 4 contested marks, 4 hitouts, an incredible 14 score involvements and kicked 4.2.

Any fears of the 33-year-old slowing down in his 16^th season should be swept to the side, as the veteran put together an utterly dominant display that’s indicative of a player still at the peak of his powers.

Put simply, the way Hawkins has adapted has been sensational.

Punters- At TopSport, the Cats are paying $10 to win their first flag since 2011, and 10th in club history.

Early in his career, Hawkins played a fairly traditional, lead-up role. As he entered his fifth season in the competition, it felt as though he was becoming more of a centre half-forward, pushing higher up the ground and offering support as an outlet option.

In 2013 and 2015, he kicked 49 and 46 goals respectively, averaging just 10 disposals and 4.5 marks a game during that time when criticism started to head his way for a perceived lack of fitness and work ethic that left him relying on staying inside 50 and looking to pluck contested marks.

Since 2016, the season he turned 28, Tom Hawkins has been the league’s premier power forward.

It’s rare that key forwards post career-high numbers in the backend of their careers, but the father/son pick laid up to 2.77 tackles a game in 2017, averaged 15.5 disposals in 2018 and has finished with at least 20 goal assists in each of the last four seasons- a feat he hadn’t accomplished before then.

As the years have gone on, Hawkins has relied less on his contested marking and more on his leading patterns and excellent fitness levels to find space inside 50, opening up better scoring opportunities for both him and his club.

For a player that was once criticised for his fitness post-injury in 2013, it’s now a clear standout feature of his game.

What has become exceedingly obvious and receives very little credit is the football intelligence Hawkins continues to showcase on a weekly basis.

Spatial awareness, the deftness of kicks to set up teammates and the use of his strength to become the premier forward-50 ruckman in the competition have all developed in the last couple of seasons.

In 2021, Hawkins averaged 3.7 hitouts per game, following up form his averaged of 2.1 in 2020.

In that time, he attended 476 ruck contests, almost exclusively in the forward 50, winning 28.8% of these contests and finishing with a hitout-to-advantage rate of 33.6%, both elite for the attacking area.

Punters- At TopSport, the Cats are paying $2.2 to finish top4 for a 4th straight season.

Having always at least been someone to stand in the ruck as a warm body, the transformation of Hawkins’ game to become the most dangerous threat in such a situation is indicative of a player that has studied the game and worked on focused strength, rather than becoming brutish.

His tap work is only exceeded by his ability to grab the ball out of the ruck and create scores off his own boot, which he has an innate ability to do multiple times a game.

Even in Round 1, he won 4 hitouts from the 9 contests he attended and half of those went to advantage, lining up against more suited rucks like Sam Draper and Peter Wright.

His tackling inside 50 has been rated as elite for the last five seasons with an average of 1.3 over that period of time and he hasn’t dropped below 2 marks on the lead per game or an elite rating in that category either.

Hawkins’ ball use in scoring chains is off the charts, rating elite for effective disposals, score involvements and score launches for multiple years, while the number of shots on goal he has per game has maintained at a level in the upper echelon of the competition, despite numbers going down on average for key forwards.

Quite incredibly Hawkins hasn’t kicked less than 46 goals in a season since 2011, the season he turned 23, finishing goalless just 19 times in those 224 games. He ended up scoreless in just 6 of the 19 games.

Punters- At TopSport, the Cats are paying $1.33 to play finals for 17th time in 19 seasons. 

Every statistic is indicative of the most unselfish key forward in the last 20 years, which has been just as vital to Geelong’s incredible levels of success as his goals have been.

Albeit as a statistic best maintained since 2003, Hawkins is ranked 7^th of all time for goal assists and the highest ranked key forward in the statistics, with 248 goal assists in his 303 games after the first round of 2022.

Rarely suffering from any long-term injuries, perhaps undisciplined actions are the one area of Hawkins’ game that hold him back and may well be the reason he flies under the radar among opposition fanbases.

Yet after the age of 30, Hawkins has featured in 3 consecutive All-Australian teams, won his only Coleman Medal and managed to lead the league in score involvements, marks inside 50 and goal assists in different seasons.

Hawkins turns 34 in 2022 and has a chance of reaching 700 career goals, to go along with a career win-rate of well over 70%.

Even as a veteran in this Geelong team, he remains one of the most consistent and important contributors and has maintained his status as one of the league’s very best key forwards.

No forward has adapted his game and been as successful as Hawkins and he deserves all the recognition in the footballing world.

Tom Hawkins is an all-time great and simply keeps getting better.

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