in Geelong's forward line. A stress reaction injury to his right leg, however, halted Hawkins' pre-season, forcing his much-awaited debut in Geelong colours to take place in the Victorian Football League (VFL) side. Hawkins made his highly anticipated debut for the Geelong seniors in round two of the 2007 season against . Opposed to Carlton captain Lance Whitnall, Hawkins impressed with three goals and several strong marks in Geelong's seventy-eight point victory, prompting then-Carlton coach, Denis Pagan to label him the next Tony Lockett. Other revered media figures, such as Gerard Healy and David Parkin, were moved enough to describe the debut as the best first-up performance in recent memory. Uncommonly for AFL debutants, he followed up with an even more impressive performance in his second game, kicking four first-half goals to help set up a victory against at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), earning the AFL Rising Star nomination for round three in the process. Question marks, however, were raised over his fitness and ability to run out entire games, and after nine games in his debut season, which saw him kick twelve goals, Hawkins saw out the rest of the year with the clubs' VFL side. There, Hawkins helped Geelong reach the VFL Grand Final for the second successive year, booting three goals as the Cats defeated the Coburg Tigers to claim their first VFL premiership since 2002. Despite inconsistencies in Hawkin's form, he played twenty-four matches for the 2009 season, including the grand final, where he played alongside other father-son selections, Gary Ablett, Matthew Scarlett and Mark Blake. He scored two goals in the game to help Geelong defeat by twelve points, winning the 2009 AFL premiership. One of his goals was notably controversial, as it was later ruled it had hit the goal post, which should have been registered as a behind; this was one of the reasons behind the introduction of the goal review system implemented by the AFL during the 2012 season. A mid-year footy injury saw Hawkins miss seven weeks of football in 2010, and he finished the season with eighteen matches and twenty-one goals. He did, however, play in Geelong's final series; a narrow loss to St Kilda in the qualifying final hampered Geelong's chances of retaining the premiership and a forty-one point loss to eventual premiers, , in the preliminary final ended Geelong and Hawkins' season. Hawkins faced scrutiny during the