Tom Hawkins set off on a lumbering lead on Friday night, but collapsed to the ground like he’d been Tasered. You often see it when athletes rupture their Achilles tendon – innocuous, unspeakably painful and when you’re on the wrong side of 30, career threatening. At first it was a suspected Lisfranc injury, one Matthew Richardson said was harder to recover from than a torn ACL. The Cats medical department, as cryptic as ever, described it as an “atypical mid foot joint and ligament injury”. Whatever it is, Hawkins kicked his mouthguard away, finished the night on crutches, and walked into training on Monday in a moonboot.
What’s extraordinary is that he’s made it this far. There were times throughout his career when he could barely get out of a slow trot, when his back was completely stuffed, and when he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. His career spanned an era where enormous full forwards gradually became obsolete. But he always found a way to work through his limitations, to adjust to what the team needed and what the game demanded. He became one of the most consistent and reliable footballers of his generation, and was a four-time All Australian after he’d turned 30.
