AFL player Tom Hawkins’ country life
THE GEELONG CATS FULL-FORWARD TELLS CLAIRE MACTAGGART HOW GROWING UP ON A FARM TAUGHT HIM THE VALUE OF HARD WORK AND RESILIENCE.
FOOTBALLER
AT THE END of the school day, a young Tom Hawkins loved to return to the family farm, Springfield, near Finley in the Riverina, and help his father down in the paddock. There was never a shortage of jobs to do and he craved the space and freedom his rural upbringing provided. Tom’s earliest aspiration was to play Aussie Rules at an elite level. The sports gene is in his blood: his father Jack is a former Geelong champion and his mother Jennifer also loved sport. Tom’s grandfather Fred Le Deux had played for Geelong, as well as his uncles Michael and Robb Hawkins. “Sport is generally ingrained in Australian culture and certainly was in our family,” says the 29-year-old. “Our parents were always very active, and we children have followed in their footsteps. We’re really competitive, and when you grow up in a small country town, sport venues are generally where people congregate. It was always good fun being at a sporting event.” Tom and his older sister Jane, 31, and younger siblings Edwina, 28, and Charlie, 22, were involved in all aspects of life on the 1200-hectare grazing and mixed cropping farm located 10 kilometres from Finley. Sadly, their mother Jennifer passed away in 2015 after battling cancer, but their father Jack continues to run the farm. While in Year 10 at Melbourne Grammar School, Tom was selected for the first XVIII football team and later played in the AFL under-18 championships, before making his debut with the Geelong Football Club in 2007. Since then, he’s won two premierships, was awarded the Carji Greeves Medal for Geelong’s best and fairest and made the All Australian team (the all-star national team) in 2012. In 2016, Tom married his long-term partner, Emma Clapham, who is originally from Deniliquin. Last year, the couple welcomed daughter Arabella, who is now one. They live on a 62-hectare farm at Barrabool, 20 minutes west of Geelong, where they run 25 Angus cows and 150 merino ewes who are due to lamb in this month. “We saw this place and both loved it. We really enjoy living out here,” says Tom. “There’s lots of open space with undulating hills. Plus, the farm doesn’t take too much time away from my football, but it gives me that release, and the elements of my childhood that I enjoyed so much.” Tom also works in sponsorship and ambassador roles with brands including Rodd & Gunn and Woolmark. Long term, he hopes to be further involved in agriculture. “It’s a massive field in Australia with lots of avenues, and I love the relaxed mindset of people in the country,” he says.
“Our parents always encouraged us to be involved as much or as little as we wanted to on the farm. All of my siblings are pretty hard-working.”
We weren’t far from the Murray River and we’d often go camping down there as a family in both summer and winter. My mother was originally from Geelong and we would go down to Barwon Heads on the coast, just out of Geelong, for Christmas. One time, we drove up to Longreach, which was pretty good fun. We had the trailer on the back and stayed at different camping spots along the way. We all spent a lot of time in the car together, as you often do when you’re from a country town, whether you drive two hours to get to the football, 20 minutes to the cricket or up to three hours for the athletics with different carnivals! We’ve always been a very close family, but growing up on a farm teaches you to be independent and I liked to do my own thing. Dad’s farm is diverse and there’s always something to do, whether it’s harvesting or working cattle in the yards. It certainly encouraged us to do different things. I loved growing up with lots of space around me and was a pretty active kid. I’ll always have fond memories of finishing school each day, then going to help Dad on the farm. My parents always encouraged us to be involved as much or as little as we wanted to with the farm. All of my siblings are pretty hard-working and that’s a value we share. Both my mum and dad never pushed us to do more than we wanted to, but we all liked different roles around the farm and were pretty hands-on. I’m not too good with machinery – I’m more of a stockman to be honest, and I’ve always preferred stock work over a tractor. Now, where we are in Geelong, we have Angus cattle, and I still enjoy it. Finley has about 2500 people and it’s a great community where I have a lot of friends from primary and high school who I still see and keep in contact with. Away from the farm, I loved playing sport — I played football and cricket for Finley. Around the area, there used to be social tennis on a Monday night and I also enjoyed that. It also taught us resilience — especially through the early 2000s when the area went through a drought. Not only our family, but the businesses in town and sporting clubs were affected, too. In a small town, most businesses have something to do with agriculture, and people have to be resilient for long periods of time. I’m amazed people did what they did — sent their kids to school, fed their stock — when it’s just as easy to give up. My aspiration was to play football at the highest level. It always felt like a pipe dream and never cemented in my mind until I was around the age of 16. I went to an interview for boarding school in Year 9 and the principal asked what I was going to do when I finished high school. I said I was going to play AFL football and he said, ‘No, that’s great to have the dream, but football doesn’t work for everyone, or last forever.’ I was adamant, and it wasn’t until I was 16 that I realised the opportunity was really there. A few things kicked in and I worked out what to do to get to the level I’m at today.