Hawkins reaps reward for all his hard work

TOM Hawkins has never had more disposals in a game of football than he did against Carlton on Saturday night.

Only seven times in 205 previous games had he taken more marks.

Only once had he finished with a greater tally of goals.

And yet for all of the statistical dominance, the affable key forward — who happened to be the leading possession winner on the ground at halftime — was happy to feel like he was having an impact on a match again.

Be it on the scoreboard or providing a presence for his teammates, Hawkins was in the thick of things from the outset, kicking the first goal and then regularly getting his hands on the ball further afield.

His six-goal haul was a return to what everybody in football knows he is capable of, but he says while he always kept faith his hard work would pay off, it was his unselfishness and ability to bring teammates into play that was the most enjoyable aspect of his game.

“The most pleasing thing was I was able to get in the game early and have a bit of an influence, not so much on the scoreboard but just inside forward 50 distributing the ball and getting my hands on the ball and being in the game,” Hawkins said.

“It wasn’t as though I worked harder, and I probably got a bit lucky with a few possessions that I got. I suppose it was just what the game gave me.

“We had the luxury of being able to play Pat (Dangerfield) and Joel (Selwood) and Cam Guthrie really deep, which allowed Wylie Buzza and myself to set up 30 or 40m out, which means we can lead up at the footy and move laterally and move back.

“I have been working hard over the last month, two months, and things haven’t quite clicked but I have always remained confident in what I have been doing.”

A tackle laid by Hawkins early in the second quarter resulted in his second goal, and it was those acts, as well as the seven inside50s he had — again a personal best — that spoke volumes of his workrate.

But it was not only the quantity of his possessions — he finished with 27 — that stood out, it was their quality.

His 81.5 per cent disposal efficiency was the highest on the ground, with coach Chris Scott acknowledging his star forward was someone he liked seeing with the ball in his hands.

“Tonight was a really dominant performance in a slightly different role to the one I think Geelong supporters have been used to,” Scott said.

“It was exciting for us to see him moving around the ground and he is a very good ball user.

“We’d like to kick the ball inside-50 to him but we also like it when he’s kicking the ball inside50, he uses it well.”

For Hawkins, doing what he could to bring the Cats victory started on the training track, and finished with the reward of one of his best individual matches and the four points for Geelong.

“Our ball use hasn’t been where we would like it to have been probably in the past month, and when we play poor footy we probably don’t kick the ball that well,” he said.

“So we spent a bit of time this week on skill execution, which is such an important part of today’s footy in being able to maintain possession and to get ground.

“I thought we kicked the ball really well and ran really good patterns ahead of the ball, so it was a really good team performance.”