The Finley forward already has a pair of premiership medallions to go with three All-Australian jackets, a best-and-fairest, nine club leading goal-kicker awards and this year's Coleman Medal, but he could join truly elite company should he add a third flag when the Cats battle Richmond in a historic interstate, night grand final at the Gabba.
The 32-year-old behemoth is a confirmed starter for the decider after a midweek scare, quarantined apart from his teammates after developing a cold, although he has since recovered and tested negative for COVID-19.
Speaking with media on Thursday morning, Hawkins assured Cats fans his quarantine was nothing but a precaution, and he would be right to go come the big game.
“It’s probably been taken a little bit out of context, it’s just sort of here in the environment that we’re in, if anyone finds themselves at any stage a little bit under the weather you take precautionary measures and isolate away from the group,” Hawkins said.
“So it was a bit of a rough start to the week, I would have rather had spent it with my teammates, but I’m feeling really good. I trained last night, I’m feeling good today and I’m fine.”
But now in the line-up, Hawkins — and his litter of teammates — have a bigger problem, needing to overturn a 26-point loss to the Tigers from round 17, where the Finley unit managed just 1.2.
Hawkins was not sure who would match up on him, having been beaten by Tiger Noah Balta in that game.
“(Balta is) a great player, he’s got a lot of talent and a lot of attributes,” he said.
“I’ve played obviously on Alex Rance in the past and David Astbury, David’s in the side this week, so I daresay I’ll see him a little bit.
“But Noah’s a great athlete, from what footy I’ve seen from him he reads the game pretty well, and I think as a whole we’ve learned a lot from last time.
“Not that we’ll be playing significantly different, we’ll play our way, our brand of footy, but we’ll just look to capitalise a bit more on our opportunities going forward.”
And with Hawkins’ strong career winding down, seizing the opportunity in front of him was to the forefront of his mind.
“Ultimately you get towards the back end of your career in your 30s and you realise you don’t get the opportunity to play in grand finals very often,” he said.
“In my first five years the club played in four grand finals, it was somewhat of a routine to start holidays the first week in October. That hasn’t been the case for a long time, so I cherish the opportunity and the position that I’m in.”
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