Hawkins faced scrutiny during the 2011 season for his inconsistent form which saw him dropped from the senior side in the middle of the season. He was highly praised during Geelong's finals series in which "Herald Sun" journalist, Scott Gullan labelled the qualifying win against the best match of Hawkins' career at the time. He bettered that performance two weeks later in the 2011 AFL Grand Final, where he finished the day with nineteen disposals, nine marks and three goals to win his second premiership medallion. An injury to fellow forward, James Podsiadly in the second quarter meant Hawkins was the main target in the forward line where he kicked three goals in the third quarter and he was labelled as the unlikely hero by "Fox Sports Australia" journalist, Mike Hedge. His performance saw him awarded five votes for the Norm Smith Medal, coming third behind Jimmy Bartel with thirteen votes and Joel Selwood with nine votes. It was later revealed in the book, "Greatness, Inside Geelong's Path to Premiership History", he was nearly dropped for the final series for retiring forward, Cameron Mooney.