Reigning Coleman Medallist Tom Hawkins is excited by the potential of Geelong's forwards this year.

Hawkins got his first taste of playing alongside star recruits Jeremy Cameron and Shaun Higgins in last week’s practice match, but it is the development of some of Geelong’s younger brigade that excites him most ahead of their AAMI Community Series and annual Powercor Country Festival game against Essendon at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night.

“I thought our forward six were really dynamic,” Hawkins said.

“I was really impressed with the growth of some of our younger players from last year.

“Gryan Miers I thought was outstanding and really composed in front of goal, Frank Evans showed some really good signs coming off a somewhat limited pre-season, Sam De Koning I got to play with and Shannon Neale for the first time so that was probably as exciting as anything.”

Hawkins also enjoyed playing alongside fellow Coleman Medallist Jeremy Cameron in attack and is confident their contrasting styles can work inside Geelong’s attacking 50 this season.

“I expect us to both fit in and play well together; it may take time getting used to slight variations of how we play, my opinion is we play very different.”

“There will be some growing pains initially.

“Our first inside 50 on the weekend, I was in the skinny space, Pat (Dangerfield) took the mark in front of the grandstand (Brownlow Stand), and I actually got in Jeremy’s way – bumped into him – and he managed to mark the footy still.

“There’ll be a few teething issues like there is with any forward line at the start of the year, but I expect we’ll be okay.”

Geelong’s Powercor Country Festival clash against Essendon at GMHBA Stadium will commence at 7.10pm AEDT on Saturday night.

A limited quantity of tickets have become available for Saturday’s 2021 AAMI Community Series match – Geelong Cats v Essendon at GMHBA Stadium. Tickets will be released for sale via ticketmaster.com.au at 2pm AEDT Thursday, March 4. The allocation will be sold subject to availability.