Doug Hawkins

[The Adelaide Connection]

This weekend just made me think back to when I was very young and still a Fitzroy supporter and I was suprised to see that Fitzroy had picked up the services of Dougie. I always liked him and was pretty stoked that Fitzroy picked him up and I don't remember much except that he seemed to play pretty well.

Was just hoping someone could fill in the gaps as to the reasons behind the move, what sort of season he had etc. Was pretty suprised to find that his last game of footy was his 350th, which would have been pretty special if he was still at the Dogs. Except for Chris Grant who wouldn't have broken his record :)

[ledge]

He was told it was time to retire but as a lot of players find it hard to accept but retire, he didnt and Fitzroy were pretty much done and dusted so picked him up for nothing, he still held his own though.

[The Adelaide Connection]

In my quest for answers I stumbled upon this site, full of biographies, stats, detailed accounts of some great games, etc.

It also seems to cover every major league in the country, and has a huge database of clubs and players from across the leagues.

Great procrastination tool.

http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/

[The Adelaide Connection]

http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/bulldogs_find_their_bark.htm

The 1954 Grand Final in great detail.

[Topdog]

He was told it was time to retire but as a lot of players find it hard to accept but retire, he didnt and Fitzroy were pretty much done and dusted so picked him up for nothing, he still held his own though.

Interestingly in the pre game show on Fox on Sat he was saying how great it is that Johnno is still in great form when breaking the record. He said that he wasn't confident at the time of getting a gem anymore because his form had been terrible. It is a shame he didn't' retire as a one club player.

[LostDoggy]

Yeah, it was a shame that Dougie couldn't have finished his career at the Dogs. I found it very difficult to watch him go around in the Fitzroy jumper - from memory it was only for 1 year??? I guess I see a similarity with what happened with Westy - the club obviously wanted him to retire and he found it difficult to accept that. I would have been shattered if he had decided to go and play with another club :(

[Sockeye Salmon]

A friend of mine played with Hawk at Braybrook. I had the great good fortune to go to lunch with the two of them many years ago.

Hawk told me that he was told it was time to retire (and he acknowledged that they were right), but he simply loved playing AFL footy so much he was prepared to do whatever he could to keep playing.

Fitzroy gave him that opportunity.

[Twodogs]

We tend to forget when we are discussing club greats just how damn good the Hawk was. I wonder if that's because he finished his career at Fitzroy?

It would be a huge shame if it were the case because Doug Hawkins was the dog's bollocks when it came to the skills of the game-he had them all mastered.

[Desipura]

We tend to forget when we are discussing club greats just how damn good the Hawk was. I wonder if that's because he finished his career at Fitzroy?

It would be a huge shame if it were the case because Doug Hawkins was the dog's bollocks when it came to the skills of the game-he had them all mastered.
Hopefully young Ricky can display the same skills in the red white & blue. ;)

[LostDoggy]

We tend to forget when we are discussing club greats just how damn good the Hawk was. I wonder if that's because he finished his career at Fitzroy?

It would be a huge shame if it were the case because Doug Hawkins was the dog's bollocks when it came to the skills of the game-he had them all mastered.

Twodogs, I have wonderful memories of watching this guy play footy. I think I have said it before on a previous thread, but the skills the Hawk was blessed with, IMO, can't be taught. He just had natural balance, skills and ability! Sublime :D

[Bumper Bulldogs]

It would be a huge shame if it were the case because Doug Hawkins was the dog's bollocks when it came to the skills of the game-he had them all mastered.

Fully agree Twodogs, I rate him behind EJ and can only think that due to his Off-field drinking maybe he slips in some peoples eye. I cant remember him being beat at any game, however can remember a few games when they had to pull super off in the seconds as Doug was in no condition to play. ;)

Would love him in the team today against these athletes, it would be like a birthday each week for Hawk.:p

[Twodogs]

Would love him in the team today against these athletes, it would be like a birthday each week for Hawk.:p


Wouldnt it just? The Hawk would spend one afternoon/night a week making some dozy bugger's life hell!

[LostDoggy]

Someone please arx Doug and post his answer here.

[Topdog]

We tend to forget when we are discussing club greats just how damn good the Hawk was. I wonder if that's because he finished his career at Fitzroy?

It would be a huge shame if it were the case because Doug Hawkins was the dog's bollocks when it came to the skills of the game-he had them all mastered.

Yeah for sure. I was only very young when he was playing his best footy but I always remember one bit of play with him. The famous running outside the boundary line and holding the ball inside.

[The Adelaide Connection]

I was too young to remember much, but I do remember he was a great player and liked him a lot. Like I said I was pretty stoked when he came to Fitzroy. This is the biography from the site that I provided the link for above. If anyone hasn't checked that site out yet, I highly recommend it.

Doug Hawkins (Footscray & Fitzroy)

Blessed with all the essential skills of football, Doug Hawkins, known almost universally as 'the Hawk', would arguably be Ted Whitten senior's only serious rival as the greatest footballer ever to don the famous tricolour jumper of the Footscray Football Club. Idolised by the fans at the Western Oval for seventeen seasons (1978-94), during which time he amassed a club record 329 games, Hawkins' patch of ground, which he patrolled with the same air of ownership as a police officer on the beat, was unofficially known as 'the Doug Hawkins wing'.

Some, like former Collingwood champion Peter McKenna, went so far as to adjudge Hawkins the most naturally gifted footballer of his era (see footnote 1), and there can be absolutely no doubt that he was blessed with abundant talent. Quick, strong, agile, brilliant overhead, an excellent kick, and a superb exponent of handball, Hawkins had a knack of making the spectacular look like second nature. Moreover, despite the fact that he had his share of run-ins with the Tribunal, he was essentially a ball player, thereby earning the respect of both opponents and, in some cases, even opposition supporters. Melbourne great Robbie Flower spoke for many players of his era when he observed that

Doug Hawkins was always a tough customer to play against. His exceptional skills whether it be on the ground or in the air were something even his opponents were willing to stand back and applaud. At times I would think, 'How did he do that?' when gaining possession in a freakish manner. However, his most outstanding asset was his unselfishness and use of clever handball often forsaking his own accolades for the sake of the team. His tackling was another feature of his game that emphasised his team orientated manner. (See footnote 2)

During the course of his long career, Hawkins received several offers, most notably from Essendon and Adelaide, to leave his beloved Western Oval. Given Footscray's consistent lack of success such offers must surely have been extremely tempting, but it is typical of the character of the man that when he did finally jump ship in 1995 it was not to pursue personal glory but to play out his career endeavouring to help Fitzroy, a club which was in an even more parlous state than the Bulldogs, achieve a measure of self respect. If he can perhaps be said to have failed in that ambition, it was nevertheless a noble failure. However, to those who watched 'the Hawk' in action during the peak of his playing career - which was more or less all of the seventeen years he spent with Footscray - 'failure' was seldom if ever a word which applied.