{"id":325385,"date":"2023-08-23T00:51:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T00:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=325385"},"modified":"2023-08-23T01:58:33","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T01:58:33","slug":"cat-tight-lipped-on-superstar-forwards-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=325385","title":{"rendered":"Cat tight-lipped on superstar forward&#039;s future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/afl\/geelong-cats\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Geelong\">Geelong<\/a> premiership defender <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/videos\/afl\/afl-news-2023-geelong-premiership-defender-tom-stewart-has-given-nothing-away-as-tom-hawkins-ends-his-2023-season-early\/cllm51nvd00020jmpmcpt1phm\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Tom Stewart\">Tom Stewart<\/a> has remained tight-lipped on the future of three-time premiership teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/afl\/tom-hawkins\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Tom Hawkins\">Tom Hawkins<\/a>, after the Cats&#x27; finals hopes came to an end on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The Cats\ufeff have decided to rest Hawkins ahead of their final game against the Western Bulldogs, with questions raised over possible retirement.<\/p>\n<p>But Stewart was adamant that the 346-game veteran and five-time All-Australian has earned the right to make a call on his own, with the defender throwing his support behind whatever choice is made.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/athletics\/world-championships-budapest-2023-jiggling-michelle-jenneke-viral-warm-up-dance-criticism-exclusive\/0df3c184-ba26-4cc1-9812-df0ac286985e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>&#x27;Unfair&#x27; moment Australia turned on jiggling Jenneke<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/football\/spain-football-federation-panned-for-gross-twitter-post-celebration-womens-world-cup\/25c0dbd7-84ad-4cc1-a2e7-37ee256b5d63\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>&#x27;Abusive&#x27;: Spain football hammered for &#x27;gross&#x27; post<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/news-2023-manly-sea-eagles-drop-josh-schuster-paul-gallen-800k-contract-comments\/09862061-fb47-40b8-91ee-5013119442ce\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Gallen rips Manly for baffling $2.4m decision<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&quot;\ufeffHe&#x27;s got a decision to make, but I think he&#x27;s earned that right to make that with his family and what their preference is moving forward,&quot; Stewart told media on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The news comes after Geelong decided to \ufeffrest premiership forward Jeremy Cameron on Saturday, sending him for shoulder surgery in hopes of a quick recovery to complete a full pre-season.<\/p>\n<p>Stewart however sees the loss of their two key forwards as an opportunity for younger players to have a run before the end of the season, including big man Toby Conway, who dominated in the VFL on Saturday.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"235d7b79-0469-4565-b6d1-5f3884435142\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/235d7b79-0469-4565-b6d1-5f3884435142\" alt=\"MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 23: Tom Hawkins of the Cats looks dejected after a loss during the 2023 AFL Round 02 match between the Carlton Blues and the Geelong Cats at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on March 23, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Dylan Burns\/AFL Photos)\" data-width=\"4580\" data-height=\"3054\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;It&#x27;s an opportunity for others to step in\ufeff. We&#x27;ve had a lot of growth from individuals we may not have had to, so it&#x27;s another chance to put their best foot forward and to pull on the hoops, which is a massive privilege in itself,&quot; Stewart said.<\/p>\n<p>\ufeffThe Cats&#x27; round 24 clash against the Dogs will be Stewart&#x27;s only game so far in his career where there is no way the Cats can win the flag.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#x27;ve actually played finals every single year\ufeff, so it&#x27;s definitely new to me, personally,&quot; he said.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"35046517-1f5f-47a1-a39b-bf368d83dbf8\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/35046517-1f5f-47a1-a39b-bf368d83dbf8-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 24: Tom Stewart of the Cats celebrates with the Premiership Cup after the 2022 AFL Grand Final match between the Geelong Cats and the Sydney Swans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 24, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor\/AFL Photos\/via Getty Images)\" data-width=\"5472\" data-height=\"3648\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;I understand how lucky I am to be able to play for Geelong every week, so my motivation doesn&#x27;t wane.&quot;\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>The Cats face the desperate Bulldogs, who must beat\ufeff Geelong to keep their slim finals hopes alive. The Dogs must also hope the Giants lose to Carlton in order to jump into eighth on the ladder.<\/p>\n<p>The Bulldogs will be without Jack Macrae (delayed concussion symptoms) and Taylor Duryea, who had his one-match suspension upheld for a bump on Eagle Jamie Cripps.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Geelong premiership defender Tom Stewart has remained tight-lipped on the future of three-time premiership teammate Tom Hawkins, after the Cats&#x27; finals hopes came to an <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=325385\" title=\"Cat tight-lipped on superstar forward&#039;s future\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":325349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325385"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=325385"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325388,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325385\/revisions\/325388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/325349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=325385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=325385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=325385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}