FINLEY’S FINEST UP WITH THE BEST
ABLETT, Scarlett, Turner and Hawkins.
Geelong has a storied history of father-son stars but those four names stand above the others in terms of intergenerational impact at the football club.
After being lured to Geelong from Finley as a 17-year-old, Jack Hawkins was a hero of the 1970s in his 182 games as a high-flying defender.
Since then, his son Tom has won two premierships, a Coleman Medal and is third on the club goalkicking list.
Between them, they sit comfortable alongside Gary Sr, Gary Jr and Nathan Ablett, John and Matthew Scarlett, and Leo and Michael Turner in the history of the club.
“I am very proud of the fact that the Hawkins name has a place at the Geelong footy club,” Jack Hawkins said.
“My two brothers, Michael played three games and Robb played two games. They didn’t stay long enough to play any more, that was the nature of VFL footy in the mid-’70s.”
When Tom Hawkins nailed his fourth goal in Geelong’s semi-final win over Collingwood last week, it marked his 600th goal.
He now sits behind one of the other famous father-son names in Gary Ablett
Sr and Doug Wade on the all-time list.
“Gary Ablett (Sr) was a player I idolised as a kid and I obviously know what Doug Wade accomplished as a player,” he said.
“It is very humbling and I didn’t think that 600 goals was in front of me when I started, but it is a nice milestone.”
The excellence of the Hawkins family in Geelong colours has swung a whole town in support, even if Finley famously unofficially changed its name to “Crawfordtown” in honour of Hawthorn champion Shane Crawford’s 1999 Brownlow Medal victory.
Before he went to the Cats, Jack Hawkins was a St Kilda supporter but that did not last long.
“Of course, Finley wears the same colours as the Cats and we have this whole family up there who basically barrack for the Cats because they have that connection and they have grown up with the connection,” he said.
A worthy punctuation mark on an excellent career — that is not finished yet — was the Coleman Medal awarded to Tom Hawkins this year.
His father said it was a reward for a decade of excellence since the full-forward broke out in the 2011 Grand Final.
“The last 10 years, he has had some years that were equally as good,” Jack said. “I thought he should have been in the All-Australian side in 2018, but I am a bit biased.
“This year, there is no doubt about it, he has played with some real command.”