Cats player Tom Hawkins developing his Geelong farm alongside AFL commitments

The Cats full-forward may have spent the past 16 years on AFL ovals across the nation but there's no doubt he's a country kid at heart.

Hawkins grew up on his family's mixed farming operation at Finley in NSW's Riverina region.

At present his father Jack is running about 150 head of black Angus cattle and first-cross ewes on Springfield, which spans more than 1200 hectares.

Summer and winter cropping also takes place with rice, canola and wheat the primary crops grown.

Hawkins said it was a beautiful place to grow up but he has witnessed firsthand the vagaries of weather farmers face.

"It can be pretty harsh; even in my life growing up on the farm I experienced some really wet years and a period of drought but being irrigation country it gives Dad a bit of flexibility in what he can do," he said.

"It's certainly different to our place that we're on in Geelong."

Six years ago Hawkins and his wife Emma bought a 65 hectare property west of Geelong.

The pair met in Melbourne during their boarding school days with farming also in the blood for Emma, who hails from Deniliquin.

When they arrived the paddocks "needed to be renovated" and Hawkins has taken his time considering pasture options and repairing fencing.

Pasture consists of mainly clover and phalaris and this year he plans to put in some summer fodder for grazing.

"It's not a huge amount of land but it's something I'd like to be able to scale up," he said.

"I'm always on the lookout to grow my operation bigger via leasing or buying more land.

"At this stage it's a small venture but we love it and hope to grow it into something bigger over time."

He has continued on with his father's black Angus theme and is running 45 medium to large-framed cows ranging in age from two and a half to eight years.

Eventually he would like to have an even line of cattle that are roughly the same age.

Hawkins has used Murdeduke Angus bulls for the past couple of years and looks for bulls that produce low birthweight early maturing calves.

Calves are grown out and turned off at 12 to 14 months of age and he has previously sold through the Mortlake saleyards, as well as on AuctionsPlus and privately.

"We're autumn calvers, which fits in with the environment and it's sort of almost the best time of year for me to to be calving," he said.

"If there's any issues I'm a bit more available than say the spring, where I'm often travelling a little bit more and can be away for small periods."

Even when the AFL season is on he's still got one eye on farming and earlier this year he was in Western Australia for a game when he spotted "a nice, neat line of young heifers" on AuctionsPlus.

Funnily enough, they were only three kilometres as the crow flies from his farm.

Hawkins ended up buying them but soon realised he "probably had a few too many" and so 20 head went on a truck back to Finley.

An addition that has made life on the farm easier is his Can-Am Defender Pro side-by-side.

Alongside the vehicle's practicality, the safety features it affords been a big drawcard for the father of three.

Hawkins is an ambassador for Can-Am and features in the company's latest Livin' The Land installment, which was released on Monday.

The series of short films explores what drives the next generation of farmers.

Read more:

"If I'm being brutally honest, I hadn't had much of an experience with side-by-sides, I'd driven motorbikes and occasionally ridden a horse and been in the ute in Finley," he said.

"Moving out to where we are here, the versatility they offer is almost perfect for what I'm trying to do.

"It's being able to jump in it and burn around and get it dirty and I know if the ground is wet I'm not going to get bogged and have to take the tractor down; it makes life easy and they are just so safe."

Hawkins said he has really enjoyed working alongside Can-Am and the opportunity to challenge himself in other ways and have different conversations outside of the "footy fish bowl".

Last week Hawkins was named skipper of the All-Australian team, something he said "was a bit of a shock".

"It was an huge honour, I was very surprised on the night and it probably didn't really sink in until I had a conversation with my wife in the car on the way home on the phone," he said.

"Emma is incredible, she's a great support and has given me the opportunity to flourish in my industry."

While he has been included in the All-Australian side before, it was the first time in his professional career he has been named captain.

Throughout his time at Geelong Football Club he has been fortunate to learn from some great captains and leaders.

"My Dad played for Geelong and it's a team I grew up supporting, so I've got a great connection with Geelong the footy club but also the community," he said.

"I haven't necessarily had aspirations to be captain like other players I've played with have but I've certainly been a leader and an influential player at the football club and obviously on game day.

"Leadership comes in lots of different forms but some of our great leaders I've played with don't ever have the title as captain."

With finals season kicking off on Saturday, Hawkins anticipates there are going to be some good games across the series.

He is feeling great ahead of Geelong's blockbuster game against Collingwood at the MCG and said the pre-finals bye had been a chance to reset.

"We've been playing really consistent football but like any competition, you play for a long period of time, in our position it's for 23 weeks to make the finals and then it's almost like the season starts again for a five week period," he said.

"We've worked hard to be able to get a double chance and hopefully we don't need it next weekend and we can win.

"We can't wait for the experience, it's going to be a tough game but ultimately for one team there's a premiership at the end of September and we hope it's us."

Hawkins anticipates he'll be playing again next year but 16 years is a long time for any professional athlete and he has begun to think about life after football.

"I'm not exactly sure exactly where I want to go but I'd love to be involved in agriculture in the variety of ways you can get involved in ag," he said.

"I've got a bit of a taste for farming through my own enterprise here and the relationship with Can-Am will keep me involved in ag in a different way.

"Where ultimately I end up I'm not 100 per cent sure but I'd love to be able to integrate a bit of everything into life after football and manage a bit of flexibility."