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Coleman Medal winner Tom Hawkins believes Geelong absolutely have to explore the possibility of recruiting Essendon's Joe Daniher to his AFL club.
Geelong spearhead Tom Hawkins is only too happy to hear speculation the Cats are attempting to lure Joe Daniher to the club.
The 2020 Coleman Medallist would have no issue with sharing the forward line with the Essendon star, whose future at the Bombers is very much up in the air.
A restricted free agent, Daniher has been linked with the Cats as well as Brisbane and Sydney should he opt to leave the Hangar.
It's a move that has the full support of Hawkins.
"We're always interested in bringing quality people and great players to our club," he said.
"We think we've got a club that's really unique in terms of where we are. We've got a lot to offer.
"We've been able to put ourselves continuously in these positions and if a player like Joe, there's been a few others speculated as well, if they're going to help improve us and our list management team can make them all fit in our system and salary cap, well absolutely we'd be looking to bring players like Joe in."
Hawkins' own future remains undecided but the 32-year-old says negotiations are underway for him to sign a new deal to stay at the Cats.
A 42-goal campaign was enough for Hawkins to secure the Coleman Medal for the first time in his career - adding the honour to his two premierships - making him the first Cat to win the prize since Gary Ablett Snr in 1995.
The veteran says the importance of the personal honour had been brought home by messages of support in the past 24 hours from friends and family.
But after the heartbreak of being ruled out of last year's preliminary final defeat to Richmond due to suspension, Hawkins' eyes are firmly on a bigger team prize this year.
"In my mind I've got bigger fish to fry," he said.
"As everyone knows the hard work starts now.
"The real challenges are in front of us but we think we're capable."
The Cats start their 2020 finals campaign against minor premiers Port Adelaide in South Australia on Thursday, October 1 with Hawkins having put in a six-goal masterclass against the Power when the two teams met in August.
