Games: 329 (1978–94) Goals: 216
Captain: 1990–93
Best and fairest: 1985
Runner-up best and fairest:1982, 1984, 1989
Leading goalkicker: 1991
VFL/AFL team of the year:1984, 1986
State selection: 5 games for Victoria
AFL Hall of Fame (2004)
Footscray-Western Bulldogs Team of the Century (vice-captain/wing)
Footscray-Western Bulldogs Hall of Fame: Inducted 2010
Among the club’s most loved players, Doug Hawkins made the outer wing at the Western Oval his own – eventually having it named in his honour.
Superbly gifted, and skilled on both sides of the body, he was unbeatable one-on-one and rarely wasted a possession.
View the complete list of Footscray-Western Bulldogs Hall of Fame inductees.
The ‘Hawk’ firmly established his reputation as a wingman of class during the 1980s, earning a place in the Victorian state team in 1982, 1984, 1985 and 1989 and the VFL team of the year in 1984 and 1986.
Winning the club best and fairest in 1985 and finishing runner-up on three other occasions, Hawkins’ genius was never more evident than during the 1985 finals series but, at his playing peak in 1986, he suffered a serious knee.
When he returned a year later, it was to a hero’s welcome and he displayed all the nous and skill for which he was renowned.
After the tumultuous events of the 1989 Fightback, he relished the role of captain for four years, playing roles at half-back and up forward where he won the club goalkicking in 1991.
He broke Ted Whitten’s longstanding record of 321 games in 1994, and went on to eventually play what was then a club record of 329 games. In 2002, he was named as vice-captain and wingman in the Bulldogs’ ‘Team of the Century’ and he was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame in 2004.
An inductee to the Footscray-Western Bulldogs Hall of Fame in 2010, Hawkins now becomes the fourth player elevated to Legend status.
