Cats coach Chris Scott said the club had been open about the fact Hawkins was not 100 percent fit, but he was still part of the club's finals' plans.
He said that although Hawkins made a valuable contribution as he drew opposition defenders to him because he is so dangerous in the air, his role went beyond merely providing a contest.
"We would like a little bit more than just a contest from him and we're confident we'll get that," Scott said. "We haven’t seen anything from Tom that would lead us to believe that we can't go in with that sort of set up the way it is, not withstanding that we expect him to improve."
Scott said Hawkins' back was, contrary to popular belief, improving every week and he was; "in a much better place now than he was a couple of months ago"
Hawkins is expected to train strongly and get, in Scott's words, "solid game time" against the Brisbane Lions.
The key forward played three quarters against the Sydney Swans before being subbed off as planned and he did not kick a goal. He was not able to lay a tackle, having laid just one in his past six games.
"He's sharing my view that he is an important part of our team and he can get the job done for us," Scott said. "He wasn't brilliant on the weekend but he wasn't a disaster either. He could have easily kicked four or five [goals] in my opinion."
Hawkins was a key performer in the 2011 finals series when the Cats won the premiership. He turned the game Geelong's way in the second half of that year's Grand Final.
Scott said the trend was positive.
"He has been improving every week. He had a little bit of a downer against Port Adelaide [in round 20] but nothing that we were overly concerned about," Scott said.
The coach also said Paul Chapman had pulled up well from his comeback game but was under no illusion that he had to back it up with a good performance in the last round of the season too.
"I'm pretty happy. Chappy is pretty happy as well," Scott said. "But it was only a start. Paul is acutely aware that he needs to play well again this week and we are far from making a decision as to what our best 22 will be through the finals series, but the first step has been a really positive one for him and us."
