As Tom Hawkins was walking out the front door of his farm near Geelong on Tuesday morning, his eldest daughter Arabella pleaded with him to reconsider his decision to retire. “Maybe you could just tell them you are considering retirement,” she told her dad, who became emotional hours later when discussing a future away from his home for the past 18 years. The record-breaking Geelong forward, who is optimistic of returning to the field at least once more for the Cats, had known for at least a month that his time at the club where he has spent half his life was almost over.
Over the past few seasons the five-time All Australian has signed on with Geelong on a one-year contract, always mindful that Father Time eventually catches even the greats. At the start of this season Hawkins, who passed his great mate Joel Selwood’s record of 355 for Geelong in May, considered himself a 30-70 proposition of continuing on into 2025. But so fraught was the risk associated with further damage to a toe he badly injured in 2022 , the 2012 Carji Greeves Medallist was mindful that everything needed to go right to continue his career.
The ravages of 18 seasons of footy have left a portion of his foot irreparably damaged - the bottom of his foot is particularly sensitive and he feels pain whenever walking without shoes courtesy of the operation on his toe after Geelong’s premiership in 2022. When the three-time premiership Cat injured his foot again against Carlton in late June, the certain.