THE Geelong tribe came to see a piece of cloth, known as a flag, unfurled before big chiefs Demetriou, Fitzpatrick, Costa and a medicine man known as Daryl Somers.

They wanted a ritual killing — not an exorcism — of the Demons, who had been comprehensively scalped by the flying Hawks and running Dogs.

But the natives didn't get the sacrifice they desired. The only thing that sated their blood lust was the sight of the Tomahawk taking marks and kicking goals.

Traditionally, the Geelong nation doesn't make as much noise as a few of the more ferocious inner-city tribes in Melbourne. They are louder, however, whenever the sons of their Braves get the ball.

They rise from their seats whenever the Sherrin is grabbed by the terrier son of Gazza, the gangling giraffe Blake, the wild Scarlett junior and now the son of jumping Jack.

Besides the flag unfurling, there was only one reason for Geelong people to be excited yesterday. He is 197 centimetres and 102 kilograms and promises to be as much of a bounty to this football club as Gary Ablett jnr and Matthew Scarlett.

Tom Hawkins kicked five goals yesterday for the first time in his AFL career. One suspects this was the first of many bags of five or more.

Hawkins had shown periodic glimpses of top-end talent in his previous 11 games of senior football. He could mark, lead and he seemed a powerful and straight kick.

The junior football officials who knew him drew comparisons with Brisbane Lions powerhouse Jonathan Brown. Others saw shades of Tony Lockett or Melbourne's David Neitz, who was a diminished force yesterday.

The Lockett comparison is partly about size. Whereas most teenagers need to bulk up and find strength, the Tomahawk played at around a Pluggerish 105 kilograms in his first season. He actually had to slim down to improve.

Hawkins said he was "a couple of kilos less than last year". "But you know, I still want to get that down and be able to play at about 100 (kilograms)."

The Hawkins performance wasn't outstanding — on three occasions, the ball seemed to bounce into his hands, within a few metres of the goal line, for easy conversions.

Still, it was what you would call an ominous performance, one that encouraged you to project into the future — from 2009 and beyond. The premiership team, in its prime, has in its 22 precisely the type of teenage player that the bottom team, Melbourne, desperately needs — another Neitz.

Such are the vagaries of the father-son rule, which, for the Geelong tribe, has been a form of compensation for never really "bottoming out" and finishing in the bottom three. As a top-up gun player who fills the area where Geelong is most vulnerable, Hawkins might be the deliverer of the dynasty.

The scary bits, for Geelong's rivals, were two Tomahawk marks — the first a juggled grab in which his size and reach split the pack; the other was a "hanger" near the point post, which he blew by handballing to Jimmy Bartel, who missed the goal.

Hawkins duly marked the botched Melbourne kick-in and dobbed his fifth goal, off one step, from 50 metres. This was a snapshot of 2010.

Hawkins, arguably, might not have been in the 22 each week had another father-son, Nathan Ablett, not pulled the pin. In a sense, the premature Ablett retirement might have saved Geelong from a tricky situation — finding room for Hawkins, whilst keeping N. Ablett happy.

Hawkins, who saw Nathan Ablett at the ground yesterday, doesn't ponder such questions. "It was sad to see him go, it was a big shock, but … I would have been still trying as hard as I was even if he was here, trying to get into the side. So, you know, nothing much changed at all, from my point of view."

Hawkins is unformed, to a degree, and it's unclear how good he'll be. He says he "doesn't feel safe in the side" given Geelong's depth, and is working on deficiencies: "Second efforts and stuff like that. Fitness is still not up to it. But, you know, it's getting better."

How much fitter might answer the question: how far Geelong?