Tom Hawkins (footballer)

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Tom Hawkins
Tom Hawkins
Tom Hawkins
Personal information
Full name Thomas Jack Hawkins
Date of Birth 27 July 1988
Place of Birth Finley, New South Wales[1]
Recruited from Melbourne Grammar/Sandringham Dragons
Draft 41st overall (father/son), 2006
Geelong Cats
Height/Weight 197 cm / 105 kg
Position Full Forward/Centre Half Forward
Club information
Current club Geelong
Number 26
Playing Career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2007- Geelong 15 (22)
¹ Club statistics to end of Round 6, 2008 season
² Representative statistics to end of {{{repstatsend}}}

Thomas "Tom" Jack Hawkins (born July 27, 1988 in Finley, New South Wales),[2] is an Australian Rules footballer for the Geelong Cats.[1] The eldest son of former Geelong champion 'Jumpin' Jack Hawkins, Hawkins was drafted by Geelong under the father-son draft rule and wears the number 26 jumper made famous by his father.[1]

Acknowledged as having endured one of the most hyped and publicised entrances into the AFL in recent times, Hawkins has established a reputation as one of the brightest young key forward prospects in the game, where his man-boy physique and unusual combination of size, strength, and footballing ability have impressed many.[3][4] Former Carlton coach Dennis Pagan was famously moved to compare him to legendary Swan full-forward Tony Lockett after his debut game.[5]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born in Finley, New South Wales to Jack and Jenny Hawkins, Tom grew up in the New South Wales region of Finley as the middle child among three other siblings, attending Finley High School and playing for the Finley Football Club (known as the Finley Cats, as the club and town are located in the former Geelong recruiting zone) before making the move south of the border to begin boarding at Melbourne Grammar School.[2] There, his footballing ability was recognised early on, with Hawkins selected to play 1st XVIII football for the school whilst still in Year 10, when many of his teammates were completing their final year of schooling at Year 12.[2] Hawkins proceeded to boot 4 goals on debut for the school, and soon his performances up forward began to garner outside attention from AFL recruiting teams. By the time Tom had reached his final school year, he was rewarded with joint captaincy of the football team alongside would be-Hawk, and good friend, Xavier Ellis, and was selected in the Associated Public Schools (APS) team to play the Associated Grammar School (AGS) selected football team in the traditional annual clash of schools, winning best-on-ground honours for his performance.[6]

Having gained permission to join local U/18 club the Sandringham Dragons for numerous games during the season, Hawkins impressed in his limited appearances within the elite TAC Cup competition, highlighted by a 22 disposal, 9 mark, and 5 goal effort in just his third game.[2] In 2006, he was awarded an AIS/AFL Academy Scholarship as part of the 9th intake.[7] The scholarship, awarded to outstanding young athletes entering the last year of their junior football development, saw Hawkins participate in several training camps, capped off with representation for Australia in the U/18 International Rules Series, before completing his summer training with the Geelong Football Club.

In the mid-year of 2006, Hawkins was selected to play in the 2006 Under 18's National Championships, lining up at full forward for Vic Metro. A best on ground performance which yielded 12 marks and 6 goals in the opening match against South Australia began a wave of unprecedented hype and attention, with Hawkins drawing comparisons to Brisbane Lion Jonathan Brown and leading Vic Metro coach David Dickson to declare the young forward as "the best footballer I've seen...since Chris Judd".[8] Hawkins was awarded the Larke Medal as the MVP within Division 1 and named as the tournament's All-Australian full-forward, just falling short of the all-time contested marking record held by Justin Koschitzke.[9][10], due largely to the final game being played in heavy rain.

[edit] Career

By the end of 2006, Hawkins had signed a contract with the Geelong Cats, tying him to the club, and was named on the Cats' list in the first list lodgement of the 2007 AFL Season.[11] Hawkins was officially selected by Geelong in the 2006 AFL Draft under the father-son rule. Whilst many pundits lauded him as the best key position prospect within the draft, and felt Hawkins' junior performances warranted possible selection with the top overall pick, the father-son ruling only demanded a middle-tier 3rd Round pick surrendering by the Cats.[6] The subsequent controversy over what was widely acknowledged as a bargain gain for the Cats led to the AFL amending the father-son ruling for future use.[12]

With a reputation as one of the finest young tall forwards in the land, Hawkins was immediately billed as the successor to the legendary Gary Ablett, whose retirement 10 years earlier had left a gaping hole in the Cats' forward line.[6][13] A stress reaction injury to his right leg, however, halted Hawkins' pre-season, forcing his much-awaited debut in Geelong colours to take place in the VFL side.[14][15]

Hawkins made his highly anticipated debut for the Geelong seniors in Round 2 of the 2007 season against Carlton.[16] Opposed to Carlton Captain Lance Whitnall, Hawkins impressed with 3 goals and several strong marks in the Cats' 78 point victory, prompting Carlton coach Denis Pagan to label him the next Tony Lockett.[5] Other revered media figures, such as Gerard Healy and David Parkin, were moved enough to describe the debut as the best first-up performance in recent memory.[17] Uncommonly for AFL debutants, he followed up with an even more impressive performance in his second game, kicking 4 first half goals to help set up a victory against Melbourne at the MCG, earning the AFL Rising Star nomination for Round 3 in the process.[18]

Question marks, however, were raised over his fitness and ability to run out entire games, and after 9 games in his debut season, which saw him boot 12 goals, Hawkins saw out the rest of the year with the clubs' VFL side.[5] There, Hawkins helped the Cats' reach the VFL Grand Final for the second successive year, booting 3 goals as the Cats defeated the Coburg Tigers to claim their first VFL Premiership since 2002.[5]

[edit] Family links

Along with his father, Hawkins' uncles, Michael Hawkins and Robb Hawkins, both played senior football for Geelong. Similarly, a grandfather on his mother Jenny's side, Fred Le Deux, played 18 games with the Cats from 1956-58.[19]

[edit] Nickname

Hawkins' famous nickname 'Tomahawk', is a play on his first name and surname, with references to a tomahawk axe, and has proven a popular calling card within the league.[20][21] Its origins were, for a period of time, much disputed, with journalists' Mike Sheahan and Mark Robinson both claiming authorship.[21] References have also been recorded by several club recruiters, one of which claimed "You will have to play with an axe on him (to stop him)".[6]

[edit] Statistics

Statistics are correct as of 26 April, 2008 (Round 6)[22]
Season Team No. Games Disposals Kicks Handballs Marks Tackles Goals Behinds
2008 Geelong 26 6 12.8 8.8 4.0 6.5 1.2 1.7 0.7
2007 Geelong 26 9 8.6 5.8 2.8 3.7 1.0 1.3 1.1
Career Averages 10.3 7.0 3.3 4.8 1.1 1.5 0.9
Season Team No. Games Disposals Kicks Handballs Marks Tackles Goals Behinds
2008 Geelong 26 6 77 53 24 39 7 10 4
2007 Geelong 26 9 77 52 25 33 9 12 10
Career Totals 15 154 105 49 72 16 24 14

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "Tom Hawkins AFL NAB 2007 Rising Star Round 3 Nominee", TripleM.com.au, accessed 4 October 2007
  2. ^ a b c d Ralph, J, "Cats' recruit Hawkins ignores hype", heraldsun.com.au, 8 February 2007, accessed 5 October 2007
  3. ^ Brereton, D, "Give Tom Hawkins a chance" heraldsun.com.au, 18 August 2006, accessed 4 October 2007
  4. ^ Johnson, L, "Cats licking their lips on Hawkins" realfooty.com.au, 4 April 2007, accessed 5 October 2007
  5. ^ a b c d Green, B, "Tomahawk's had a year to remember at Geelong" geelongadvertiser.com.au, 2 October 2007, accessed 5 October 2007
  6. ^ a b c d Niall, J, "Another gun of a son to follow Scarlett and Ablett" realfooty.com.au, 26 June 2006, accessed 5 October 2007
  7. ^ Quayle, E, "Horsing around at the races" realfooty.com.au, 10 January 2006, accessed 5 October 2007
  8. ^ Ralph, J, "Cats' 'new' Judd" heraldsun.com.au, 6 August 2006, accessed 5 October 2007
  9. ^ Harris, R, "Rising stars top honour" Border Mail, 3 July 2006, accessed 5 October 2007
  10. ^ "The Super Draft", realfooty.com.au, July 1, 2006, accessed December 22, 2007
  11. ^ Gullan, S, "Cats jump at chance to snare Hawkins" heraldsun.com.au, 19 May 2006, accessed 5 October 2007
  12. ^ Gleeson, M, "AFL to consider changes to father-son rule" realfooty.com.au, 5 July 2006, accessed 5 October 2007
  13. ^ Heinrich, S, "Rising Cat: Tom Hawkins" foxsports.com.au, accessed 4 October 2007
  14. ^ Jensen, B, "Tom Hawkins on the mend following stress fracture" geelong.keldar.net, 24 January 2007, accessed 4 October 2007
  15. ^ Rebecca Williams (2007-01-23). Tom Hawkins suffers setback. Herald Sun. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
  16. ^ Sheahan, M, "Geelong names Tom Hawkins" heraldsun.com.au, 6 April 2007, accessed 4 October 2007
  17. ^ Robinson, M, "Hawkins lives up to hype", heraldsun.com.au, 9 April 2007, accessed 5 October 2007
  18. ^ "AFL recognises rising Hawkins" abc.net.au, 17 April 2007, accessed 5 October 2007
  19. ^ Anderson, J, "Young cat has right pedigree" heraldsun.com.au, 19 April 2007, accessed 5 October 2007
  20. ^ "Tomahawk slays Dees" Yahoo! Sports, 9 May 2007, accessed 5 October 2007
  21. ^ a b Robinson, M, "Cat's close the lid on kids" heraldsun.com.au, 11 April 2007, accessed 5 October 2007
  22. ^ "Tom Hawkins Statistics" accessed 5 October 2007

[edit] External links


Awards
Preceded by
Marc Murphy		 Larke Medal
MVP of National Championships
2006		 Succeeded by
Cale Morton
v • d • e
Geelong Football Club – current squad

1 Davenport • 2 Harley • 3 Bartel • 4 Mackie • 5 Varcoe • 6 Ottens • 7 Taylor • 8 Hunt • 9 Kelly • 10 Tenace • 11 Corey • 12 West • 13 Lonergan • 14 Selwood • 15 Gamble • 16 D. Simpson • 17 Byrnes • 18 Djerrkura • 19 Egan • 20 S. Johnson • 21 Mooney • 22 S. Simpson • 23 N. Ablett • 24 Blake • 25 Donohue • 26 Hawkins • 27 Stokes • 28 D. Johnson • 29 G. Ablett • 30 Scarlett • 31 McKenna • 32 Prismall • 33 Rooke • 34 Hogan • 35 Chapman • 36 Moles* • 37 Laidler* • 38 Kangars* • 39 Milburn • 40 Wojcinski • 41 Mumford* • 42 Bedford* • 44 Enright • 45 Ling • Coach: Thompson

* denotes Rookie Listed players
v • d • e
2006 AFL Draft
Second Round
Shaun Grigg • Tom Hislop • Gavin Urquhart • Albert Proud • Paul Stewart • Brent Renouf • Nathan Djerrkura • Shane Edwards • Brad Howard • Chris Dawes • Eric MacKenzie • Ricky Petterd • Clayton Collard • Kurt Tippett • Jarryd Morton • Chris Schmidt
Third Round
Mark Austin • Alwyn Davey • Todd Goldstein • James Hawksley • Nathan Krakouer • Josh P. Kennedy (F/S) • Tom Hawkins (F/S) • Bachar Houli • Tim Houlihan • Brad Dick • Brennan Stack • Colin Garland • Kyle Reimers • David Mackay • Daniel Currie • Will Schofield
Later Rounds
Clint Benjamin • Brock O'Brien • Lindsay Thomas • Matt Tyler • Robert Gray • Garry Moss • Simon Hogan • Daniel Connors • Jarryd Allen • Carl Peterson • Josh Hill • Isack Weetra • Tyson Goldsack • Nick Gill • Peter Faulks • Malcolm Lynch • Joe Anderson • Ben Warren • Sam Sheldon • Justin Westhoff • Andrew Collins • Matthew Ferguson • Paul O'Shea • Calib Mourish • Bryce Campbell • Jesse White • James Thomson • Aaron Edwards • Ryan Williams • David Rodan