AFL great has big day out in lowly amateur division
As expected, AFL great Tom Hawkins has starred in a division 4 thirds competition on Saturday.
The hulking Geelong champion was playing in the lowly VAFA competition at Elsternwick Park, and terrorised defenders with his size and skills.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Tom Hawkins stars in VAFA division 4 thirds.
Hawkins booted the first goal of the game, then banged through another four and set up plenty.
Hawkins clearly enjoyed himself and started to share it around after his four first-half goals. Tom Hawkins enjoyed himself at Elsternwick Park. Credit: @VAFA
Some unsuspecting fans who went out to watch the clash between Old Melburnians and Mazenod, were left a little shocked when they saw the famous full-forward standing in the goalsquare for Old Melburnians.
'Hahaha, I was just down there watching this and was wondering who this enormous lad at full forward was 😂,' one fan said on social media.
Others were also shocked by his sheer size (Tomahawk, who retired at the end of last year, was 197cm and 105kg during his playing days for Geelong).
'Haha looks like he's playing against under 9s. 😂,' one fan said
'Like a Great White in a fish pond 😅,' another said.
And another: 'I know he's big but Geez he looks huge out there!!'
Others wondered why Hawkins was playing in 'such a low quality' competition.
But the answer to that question was simple: he just wanted to play with some mates.
After one play, when Hawkins took a strong contested mark and then passed it to an Old Melburnians teammate, Cench Footy commented: '296 goal assists in his AFL career 👑 Never change, Tomahawk.'
Hawkins is one of the all-time greats of the AFL, playing 359 games and booting 796 goals.
He is a three-time premiership player, a Coleman medallist (leading goalkicker in an AFL season), and a five-time All-Australian (and was AA captain in 2022).
But the goal-assist number blew people's minds,
'That stat along with almost 800 goals is absolutely wild 👏,' one fan said.
Old Melburnians comfortably won the game, 116-34.
The addition of Hawkins in the team was arguably an unnecessary coup, given OMs were already on top of the ladder with a massive percentage.
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