The Grand Footy Tom Hawkins returned to the field last week when he went for his former Junior football club in New South Wales.
The 36 -year -old man, who retired in 2024, still put on football boots and resumed a trip to the place where it all started, turning for his local side, the Finley Cats, during their super Friday, holes against the Rams of Deniliquin.
The Tomahawk had not played for the club since he was 16 years old, the Grand Footy then moved to Victoria where he enrolled in Melbourne Grammar, before being drafted in Geelong.
The Coleman 2020 medalist, put on his emblematic No. 26 Guernsey, which notably wore similar naval and white hoops in which he won three AFL prime ministers while playing for Geelong.
Finley is a small town at the edge of Murray Calley National Park which has approximately 2,400 inhabitants.
But hundreds had piled up in the Finley Apex Sports and Community Center to see the legend of cats go to work.
Footy Great Tom Hawkins was seen while drinking water in a bottle of tomato ketchup
He came when the Geelong Great turned out to be for his basic footy on Friday, the Finley Cats
Hawkins, who retired at the end of last season, seemed that he had not lost any of his class, making four goals for the club to have the junior side a 9.10 (64) victory at 6.13 (49) against Deniliquin.
And it was even without the legend of cats breaking down into a sprint.
He came after the Footy Club underwent a 170 -point defeat by the contained only a week ago.
Hilarious, the game was arrested for a brief moment, the players took the opportunity to rehydrate. Hawkins was approached by a water carrier, who held him a bottle of mastery tomato ketchup which was filled with water.
He came then that Masterfoods had lengthened on a spread of sauces for the event, with football fans engaging in meat pies and sausage rolls throughout the evening.
And as many football fans know it, going to the match is not the same without meat pie and a pinch of sauce.
Hawkins, who scored 796 goals on 359 appearances for Geelong, later revealed the hilarious terms he gave him to Finley to play this weekend.
“At the time I started, you got a pie and a sauce and a coke box to play footy. Now, this is my agreement to play (Friday), ”he joked at Herald Sun, firmly ironic.
He came after Hawkins withdrew from AFL Footy last season after a sparkling career at the highest level
Known as “Tomahawk”, Hawkins was going to help Geelong to win the Première -Hip three times
Hawkins started playing football for Finley at the junior level before registering in Melbourne Grammar
“(I said) As long as I get a pie and a sauce and a coke box and maybe a big north (beer) after the match, I will come back.
Geelong Great, took a moment to think about the match and hoped that his appearance could help inspire young players to follow their dreams and play Footy one day.
“When I played for the last time for Finley at the age of 16, Marcus Baldwin was a former AFL player returning to Finley and we played in the same team together,” he said.
“It was a great opportunity for me to be able to play with someone who had been at AFL level.
“Finley certainly supported me throughout my trip and it’s great to come back and maybe there will be a 16-year-old for Finley or Deni who will remember it like me. The impact you can have without even knowing it is incredible.
Tomahawk has also thought about life since retirement.
He sits just outside the first ten goalkeepers of all time, but after a foot injury tormented him for a long time, he dropped the curtain during his epic 18 seasons.
And although he is missing his former teammates, Hawkins says that he has not thought about playing since his distance from sport.
“I miss all the experience of Geelong Football Club and AFL, but playing, honestly, I didn’t think about it too much,” he said.
“I love to watch and consume football. I feel like I’m watching the match closer than ever.
