Tom Hawkins has advocated that Geelong key forward Shannon Neale will be a strong replacement for the Cats legend's role, noting that the 22-year-old has made significant strides since Hawkins began to feel Father Time catch up in the final year of his career.
Hawkins, who has teamed up with former Pick 1 Brett Deledio and former Docker Matthew Pavlich for the Carlton Draft, is set to play local football this season, admitting while he misses the "competitiveness" of AFL football, his ageing body impacted his ability to remain at the top flight for another year.
Joining the Fox Footy commentary team for the season, Hawkins said remaining closely connected with the industry will assist in navigating life without playing the sport.
"(Whether I get an itch to play again) is going to be the interesting part when the footy comes around," Hawkins said.
"To be honest, I know I can't play at AFL level. Just purely age, and I don't want to discredit the draft that we're going into, but AFL football was just a bit past me.
"So I think that there's certainly going to be an element when you play for 18 years, I'm going to miss lots of different parts, and certainly the competitiveness is something I'm going to have to find somewhere else.
"Whether I miss it, I'm sure they'll be I'll have my moments throughout the year, but I get a pretty good vantage point to watch 2025 footy anyway."
Hawkins' retirement leaves Neale, who amassed a consistent string of games while the 36-year-old battled injury in 2024, as the top option to pair with star goalkicker Jeremy Cameron this season, with Hawkins endorsing the 203cm unit's potential.
"I think Shannon's a great young talent. I'm excited," Hawkins said.
"I've worked along with Jeremy and the other forwards and the coaching staff, (and we've) put a lot of work into Shannon.
"He himself has got an incredibly high work rate. I mean, he's athletic, he's a completely different player to what I was.
"Just like from my own experience of Cam Mooney leaving and retiring, and me starting to fill the void, we're different players. So I expect different things from Shannon.
"I've loved his progression. We know that key position players take just that little bit longer to develop, generally, to find consistency. But he's back after a year last year from 12 or 13 games he played and I think he kicked 24 or 25 goals, so he's involved in the game and he's having smaller portions of the game where he's not impactful.
"So I'm excited. I can't wait. Can't wait to watch him, Shannon in particular because I've got such a keen interest in him. But he'll be fine and keep developing, and he's a great young kid."
Neale has spoken on how impactful Hawkins was a mentor during his development since joining the Cats, however, the club legend has taken a step back as Neale firms his spot in the best 22.
"I've reached out to him a couple of times, as has he, but more just a conversation of how you're getting on, as friends, as mates," Hawkins said.
"He knows I'm always there... but he's got some great resources. He's going to learn a lot off - he already has - but he'll continue to learn more off Jeremy Cameron and using our key position defenders as sounding boards for some ideas as well.ย
"That's a great thing that I've always admired at my time there was that it's not only the coaching staff, but it's also the players that help develop the youth that comes through."
Neale combined with Cameron for four goals in Tuesday's practice match outing against Essendon, displaying promising signs for Geelong's attack in season 2025. A connection continuing to blossom as Neale develops, the key pairing will look to perform greater than their 2024 preliminary final showing in the Cats' Opening Round clash against Brisbane next Thursday.
