Hawkins made his highly anticipated debut for the Geelong seniors in round two of the 2007 season against . Opposed to Carlton captain Lance Whitnall, Hawkins impressed with three goals and several strong marks in Geelong's seventy-eight point victory, prompting then-Carlton coach, Denis Pagan to label him the next Tony Lockett. Other revered media figures, such as Gerard Healy and David Parkin, were moved enough to describe the debut as the best first-up performance in recent memory. Uncommonly for AFL debutants, he followed up with an even more impressive performance in his second game, kicking four first half goals to help set up a victory against at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), earning the AFL Rising Star nomination for round three in the process. Question marks, however, were raised over his fitness and ability to run out entire games, and after nine games in his debut season, which saw him kick twelve goals, Hawkins saw out the rest of the year with the clubs' VFL side. There, Hawkins helped Geelong reach the VFL Grand Final for the second successive year, booting three goals as the Cats defeated the Coburg Tigers to claim their first VFL premiership since 2002.