Hawkins has been sidelined since scans picked up a ‘hot-spot’ in a bone in his right foot three weeks ago.
The discovery raised concerns Hawkins was at risk of developing a stress-fracture, but speaking at Skilled Stadium on Tuesday, Geelong coach Mark Thompson revealed the 21-year-old has opted against resting the injury.
“Tom’s coming on really well and we expect him to play next week or the week after,” Thompson said.
“We didn't really know which way to go at the start but they have decided through all the specialists and Tom making the decision through his friends and family that he is going to play in one or two weeks.”
The Cats have been particularly cautious with Hawkins’ injury, given a foot stress-fracture ended the career of talented defender Matthew Egan.
In the end, however, it was left to Hawkins to make the final decision on his short-term future.
“All we did was lay out the cards on the table - the facts - and let him make the decision from hopefully the best advice we could possibly give him,” Thompson said.
“We don't know whether it is a new injury or an old injury or if it has been there for two weeks or 10 weeks.
“Once we identified there was a problem we had to deal with it and we've done that and Tom has made a decision based on the best information we could supply him.”
