In his 15th season, Tom Hawkins showed no signs of slowing down.
In fact it was one of the 33-year-old’s best, earning his fourth All Australian blazer, his third in as many years.
The key forward continued to out-body opponents in marking contests and forward 50 stoppages, snap goals from set shots and kick multiple left-to-right sliders from the boundary.
The newly-formed forward line combination of Jeremy Cameron, Gary Rohan and Hawkins at times proved lethal, most noticeably in Round 8 when the three kicked 15 goals between them in a come-from-behind win against Richmond.
Hawkins finished second in the Coleman medal with 54 goals for the home and away season, four behind Carlton forward Harry McKay.
Season Averages
Goals: 2.5 (2nd at Geelong, 6th in AFL)
Contested Marks: 1.4 (1st at Geelong)
Score Involvements: 7.3 (1st at Geelong, 8th in AFL)
Marks on Lead: 2.3 (1st at Geelong, 2nd in AFL)
Marks I50: 3.3 (1st at Geelong, 3rd in AFL)
Tackles I50: 1.4 (1st at Geelong)
Standout Moment
The match itself didn’t go to plan, but Hawkins’ 300th game was an achievement to be celebrated.
The veteran forward became the sixth player in the club’s history to achieve the milestone when Geelong met Port Adelaide in the first week of finals.
Unfortunately the Cats went down by 43 points, however it was a special moment when Hawkins was chaired off Adelaide Oval by long-time teammates Joel Selwood and Mitch Duncan.
Stats File
Hawkins dominated inside 50 - leading his team for total goals, score involvements and marks inside 50.
For the 10th season in a row Hawkins won Geelong’s leading goal kicker award. The last person to win the award besides Hawkins was James Podsiadly in 2011.
His 62 goals this season put his career tally to 665, the third most career goals at Geelong and the 27th in AFL history.
Game-Breaking Performance
Following a disappointing loss in the first week of finals, the Cats then came up against a resilient GWS in the semi-final held in Perth.
Much attention was centred around Jeremy Cameron in his first game against his old club, however there was another forward Leon Cameron’s men needed to worry about.
Four weeks earlier Hawkins had been kept quiet by up-and-coming defender Sam Taylor, kicking just one goal in the Cats Round 21 loss to the Giants at GMHBA Stadium.
Hawkins was on a mission to change the narrative between himself and the young defender, finishing the game with 12 score involvements, eight marks (four contested) and five goals in a best on ground performance.
