Geelong Cats forward Tom Hawkins reaches 350 games of kicking goals and setting them up

“Big, key-position players, playing on monster defenders, just don’t last 17 seasons. It’s remarkable.”

Ling might have chuckled, but Hawkins has had the last laugh. It is probable that by season’s end, he will have kicked more goals after the age of 30 than anyone else in the 21st century. It’s all part of the legend of Tom Hawkins. On Monday, Easter Monday, it will be 350 games old.

Longevity

Denis Pagan likened the debut of the schoolboy behemoth Hawkins in 2007 to the young Tony Lockett. He played in a VFL premiership in his first season, which he still remembers fondly, but on his own account struggled to “find the recipe” thereafter. After 70 games, he’d kicked a modest 75 goals.

Chris Scott’s arrival in 2011 and three telling goals – and a couple of assists for Steve Johnson – in that year’s grand final proved to be the turning point. “Scottie’s been wonderful for me in going from a boy to a man,” he said. “In footy and in life.”

Scott noted that during Hawkins’ era, the game appeared to veer away from his profile of player. “Maybe the days of the big, strong key forward were numbered,” he said. “Tom was having back issues at the time. It kind of made sense that the game might get harder for him, not easier. He completely defied those expectations.”

Hawkins said simply that he always played to his strengths. “I run last in our time trials just about every year,” he said. “I focus on those things that make me a good player. I can read the game, move my feet, win one-on-ones. I just didn’t get too caught up in the fact that I can’t do some things on the footy field and narrowed it into what makes me a good player.”

Brisbane premiership player Nigel Lappin, an assistant coach at Geelong for most of Hawkins’ career, said the forward had never been athletic, but made good intuitive decisions.

“He reads the cues so quickly,” Lappin said, “and he has the nuance in his game to take advantage of that.” Example 1: that forward-throw-in-ruck-snap-goal thing that everyone knows is coming and no one can stop.

Lappin said Hawkins was a dedicated trainer, but smart about it. “He knows what he needs to do and what to do about it,” he said.

Selwood, who shared a host house with Hawkins in their first year, said training and wellbeing had always been one and the same to him.

“He feels at his best when he’s out there running around,” he said, “and he pulls up better after games for it.”

Ling said Hawkins’ year-round professionalism in keeping his hulking body in league-footy shape for so long deserved to be recognised in the way that American superstars LeBron James and Tom Brady were for their powers of endurance.

Hawkins also knows what he has to do, but incidentally, also what he can get away with. By ritual, he eats a full packet of double-chocolate Tim Tams before every game, hence his club nickname, Tim Tam Tommy. You could say he found the recipe after all.

Naturally in such a long career, there have been challenges. Apart from the years when his back gave him grief, there was also a short period when his natural strength and some rule tightening led him into regular match review officer strife.

The death of his mother, Jennie, in 2016, was crushing. Hawkins said he’s been buoyed through all the fluctuations by a big support network, foremost wife Emma. “She logistically works out the week for me,” he said. “And the year.”

Lappin said Hawkins had developed work-life balance. “It’s a wanky word that a lot of people use, but footy is almost an outlet for him,” Lappin said.

The bigger picture includes his family (he has three boisterous kids), some golf and his farm in nearby Ceres.

“He’s as keen as mustard,” said father Jack, from his own farm at Finley.

“I reckon 95 per cent of our conversations are about farming. We actually don’t talk about footy much. Sometimes I get off the phone and think, ‘I should have asked him if everything was OK’.”

Altruism

Hawkins kicked three early goals in the 2022 grand final, all but ending the contest. At three-quarter time, Tyson Stengle, who had kicked four goals, pressed for the forward line to be cleared out, so he could chase a fifth. You won’t be surprised to learn that Hawkins happily obliged (though Jeremy Cameron, who was then goalless, was less amenable).

Hawkins’ habitual generosity doubtlessly offends the full-forwards guild. He said it was also “much to the disgust of my grandfather and grandmother”. But it did come from his upbringing. “Ultimately, it comes back to how I started footy and the lessons I learned from my parents over the years,” he said. “They’re very selfless people.

“I get just as much enjoyment out of other people kicking goals as I do from myself hitting the scoresheet.”

Father Jack said Tom was always the best player as a junior, but as numbers ran low in country footy and cricket teams, he had to bring other players into the games. Jack’s brother, Tom’s uncle Robb, impressed this when coaching Finley. “That was a bit of a theme in our footy growing up,” said Jack.

Ling noted that Hawkins had cultivated prolific partnerships with Cameron Mooney, James Podsiadly and most recently Cameron. “He makes it work,” he said.

Selwood said this should feed into a more subtle appreciation of what constituted a good year for Hawkins.

“We may or may not see another 60 goals out of him,” he said. “But if (Ollie) Henry, (Gryan) Miers, (Bradley) Close and Cameron kick more goals, maybe that’s career-best.”

Lappin said it was all of a piece with Hawkins’ leadership. “It’s making everyone in the team feel like they’ve got something to add to the team,” Lappin said. “He does that.”

Personality

Teammates and acquaintances universally beg to place on the record one observation about Hawkins. “One thing he’s been the whole time is a great person,” said Ling. “He has a beautiful nature. He’s a true good bloke.”

Lappin paints an avuncular portrait. “He’s like an uncle to every one of our players,” he said. “And a big brother, depending on the age. He really invests in others.

“His viewpoint is to be caring and compassionate before judging. So he builds relationships quickly. He has his standards and he’s become a master of his craft, but he’s also someone who doesn’t take himself or the game too seriously.”

The way Hawkins has always told it, he’s the Geelong-supporting son of a Geelong player who has been able to live in and play all his footy for Geelong, winning three premierships along the way, so what’s not to laugh about?

Reportedly, he is now playing for less than average AFL salary. His reward comes in other forms.

Mind you, he might be in for a shock if and when he becomes a full-time farmer. “I haven’t told him about the drop in salary yet,” said Jack.

Legacy

Hawkins said he had always cherished milestones – his and others – because of their binding effect on the club. In Hawkins’ first year, Darren Milburn played his 200th game, and Hawkins remembered looking at the honours board, which sat just above his locker, and feeling steeped in the history.

He relishes that his 350th coincides with Hawthorn and Easter Monday, a big date in the club’s calendar in his time.

Scott processes how the next step is connected at the hip to the last. “We constantly have conversations around evolution and how you shouldn’t get hung up on what your culture is. If you do, you pretty quickly get stuck in the past,” he said.

“But when you lose people like Joel and Tom, you want to retain as much as possible of the ways in which they made us who we are. It’s easy to get caught up in the on-field accolades and miss the impact that Tom’s had around the place.”

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Selwood looks back and sees goals. So often, the first of the game. Sometimes, back-to-back goals that sap the opposition’s will, as against Adelaide last weekend – one from 50 metres, one a snap.

There are the sealers, the ones after which you can relax. “And there’s the winner after the siren,” he said.

“He’s got all the tricks. Not even good players can do that; only champions can.”

Finally

Hawkins’ natural easy manner makes him at home anywhere.

One day last year, his wife Emma and brother Charlie were guests in the MCC committee room at the MCG while he played. An hour after the final siren, he joined the committee room stragglers for a drink – one only! – still in his playing shorts and wearing only his footy socks on his feet.

You could say that wherever he is and whatever he is doing, Hawkins’ feet are always close to the ground.

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