Ahead of this round’s historic clash at Simonds Stadium against North Melbourne (the first Friday night game at the venue), Hawkins said that while he played 22 of 25 games for the Cats last year, his fitness petered out significantly by the end of the year.

"I feel like I have been slowly building each week, and if I can get that consistency back in my game, that's when I’ll be feeling like I can play really good footy," Hawkins told the AFL Record in a feature interview to be published this week. 

Reflecting on last year, Hawkins said the injury still allowed him to play, albeit with some discomfort. 

"But the main thing was the juggling through the week between training and getting prepared as best as I could to play."

Hawkins revealed he had been carrying a back condition even in his junior days – there’s an imbalance of muscles around his lower back – and that last year's discomfort was caused by how his body had been compensating for the injury in the last few years.

Whether or not to sit out for a period and let his back heal was the subject of plenty of discussion around the club, and the cause for much introspection from Hawkins. 

"We deliberated over the thought of missing some footy and getting it 100 per cent right, but we came to the conclusion that I was still playing my part for the team and that my back wasn’t going to get any worse than it was, so that was the decision and I was happy with that."

Spending most of the time focusing on his back and not his footy took its toll, and by his own admission, he ended the season unfit.  

"Some weeks I felt really good; other weeks pretty average. It probably meant I wasn’t able to train as much through the week and my fitness then dropped off.

"By the last couple of weeks of the finals I felt great, but my fitness levels weren’t up to the standards they should have been and I was unable to run out games."

Hawkins took 54 contested marks, the second-most in the AFL in 2012, but only 25 last year. He has taken 12 so far through eight games and has kicked 21 goals to be fifth in the race for the Coleman Medal.