At the final change, having been well held by young Magpie Jack Frost, he had just eight disposals and one goal to his name.
But when the four premiership points were on the line in the final term, Hawkins stepped up with a commanding performance, booting three late goals and propelling the Cats to an 11-point win.
"It was nice personally to finish with a couple," Hawkins said afterwards.
"But I felt like I worked relatively hard in the game, so it was a good result personally and fantastic for the team.
"As a lot of supporters of the Cats know, we're not about individual performances, so it was a great effort by the team.
"The pressure came on and we dug deep as a side. The whole 22 of us were fantastic. It was a really good result.
"It was a tough one. There's a lot of sore boys. It was pretty brutal."
But whether he wanted to talk about himself or not, Hawkins was the story of the night.
He started the last quarter by drilling a set shot from a relatively sharp angle in the right pocket.
He then turned to the Collingwood supporters who had been heckling him – "rightly so, I hadn't had much of a kick," he admitted – and put his hand over his mouth.
A minute later, Hawkins snapped another goal, which gave the Cats a 16-point lead.
Then, after the Magpies closed to within five points with three minutes to go, he showed nerves of steel by slotting a 40m set shot that proved to be the last goal of the game.
"I don't think for any moment that I've mastered (kicking goals under pressure)," Hawkins said.
"It's something that just develops. I'm a really nervous person by nature. I get nervous before games.
"But it's just being in those positions that you learn how to deal with those things."
