Tom Hawkins announced on Tuesday that 2024 will be his last season, officially bringing to a close one of the greatest careers in Geelong Football Club history.
He joined the Cats under the father son rule back in 2007 but will leave as one of the greatest forwards of the modern era, when he officially retires at the end of this season.
Hawkins opened up in his press conference about his footballing journey, spanning over 18 seasons and 359 games to this point.
“Certainly the relationships and people is what I will miss the most,” Hawkins said.
“I came into the system, I was a bit fat and raw but I was always competitive, I had a will to win and to be the best.
“Being in that high pressured environment where it is high performance and collaborating with people is what I will miss the most.
“I will miss playing and running out in front of thousands of people; 100,000 at its peak and zero during covid when it was at its worst.
“There will be little things like seeing the family after a game, having those conversations with teammates.
“I will miss, albeit someone will come in and inherit the number 26, but I will miss that part of it because I was that youngster once with 26 on my back.
“I will miss it all, but there is the opportunity that lies in front to be a Dad, to continue to do a bit of media and be a part time farmer which is really attractive to me.”
Hawkins boasts an incredible CV which includes three premierships, a Coleman Medal, five All-Australians and a Carji Greeves Medal along with the Geelong Football Club games record.
Chris Scott has seen the majority of Hawkins’ career unfold right before his very eyes, sharing some sentiment around what the big Cat means to Club.
“We will all tell our grandkids hopefully one day that we got the chance to either play or coach Tom Hawkins,” Scott said.
“Everyone will be able to look back on the vision and see his great feats on the field, but not many will have had the privilege to have seen him up close and the way he goes about it.
“We should talk about the really good moments because there were lots of them and they were great, but I loved how optimistic Hawk was.
“One of the reasons why he was a pleasure to coach, was that you knew when we had a sub-standard performance or things were getting difficult, that Hawk would always be the one with a smile on his face, thinking about what it was going to look like when we corrected it all.”
Hawkins will still play a role for Geelong until the end of this year, before officially retiring after the 2024 season.
