Hawkins, with 17 possessions and nine marks, was clearly the Cats' best yesterday providing a strong presence in attack.
But when asked whether he believed he would receive plaudits from the senior coaches for his performance, Hawkins was refreshingly candid.
Although he kicked seven goals and was labelled Geelong's best by Tudor, Hawkins admitted he would not take a great deal of satisfaction from the match.
Instead of boasting his seven-goal bag and declaring himself ready for promotion, he conceded he should have done better in a number of areas.
It speaks volumes about Hawkins and his intent to work hard for success, and not become complacent with a near-enough-is-good-enough attitude.
"I would have liked to have improved a few more other things in my game today," Hawkins said.
"I could have worked harder, I think things just fell my way a bit today, I've still got a few things to work on.
"I've still got to improve on a few areas, that will obviously take some time, but I was happy with my game today, although it was disappointing we couldn't win."
VFL coach Leigh Tudor was quick to praise Hawkins' presence in attack.
"I think he missed a couple of goals, but he's ended up kicking seven and marking strong and he was always a target for us all game, so that was good," Tudor said.
"He played at full forward and centre half forward, he and Scott Simpson and Dan McKenna and Simon Potter were doing a bit of work in different spots.
"Tom was good for us today, he presented pretty much all game for us."
Hawkins is not too hung up about playing VFL football, in fact, he is excited about the prospect of fine-tuning a number of his weaker areas.
Last week in Bendigo was the first time he had played alongside this year's new recruits, which includes key-position prospects Simpson and McKenna.
Having been in their shoes last year, Hawkins said he was relishing his newfound mentoring role of helping the youngsters adjust to senior football.
"They're all great blokes and they're all very good listeners and they want to learn," Hawkins said.
"That's the good thing about our team at the moment, they all want to learn and they're good fellas, so you want to help them and you want to help them develop.
"I was in their shoes last year and I had blokes like Vegas (Ryan Gamble) and the older guys, like H (Henry Playfair), who's not here now, and Charlie (Gardiner) and Tim Callan.
"They were all telling you what to do, they were trying to develop you as a player, so it's a different role for me, but it's an enjoyable one."
Hawkins said the transition back to VFL football had been a little bit tricky after starting the season in the AFL.
While dropping down a league should theoretically be easier, the reality is the delivery into the VFL forward line is not quite at the impeccable standards of the delivery into the AFL forward line.
"It's a bit different (coming back to VFL), in some ways it's a little bit easier in the AFL being a forward, but I've enjoyed coming back and playing with the young blokes," Hawkins said.
"I haven't actually played, apart from last week, with the first year guys and it's exciting playing with them and seeing them develop.
"It's a goal of mine to work hard and present and do the things I'll need to do to hopefully get back into the (AFL) side and that's all I can do."
Hawkins said it was disappointing the VFL Cats couldn't claim their first win in a month after having the game in control during the second quarter.
"It was disappointing we didn't win in the end, which is the most important thing about today," he said.
"Before the game, we had a bit of a chat and (captain James Byrne) got up and told us we really needed to focus on the next eight weeks and the rest of the home and away season.
"It was disappointing from a team perspective that we couldn't get over the line today because it was pretty important for us to win."
