An Australian international and New South Wales interstate representative back,[2] he played club football in the ACT as well as in Sydney for St. George Dragons,[3] whom he captained and won a premiership with in 1949.

Like many young sportsmen of the time, he played Australian rules football on Saturday and rugby league on Sunday.

Even though his leave application was rejected, he went and played in the game but the consequence was that the Printing Office dismissed him on his return to work.

[4] In the 1949 semi-final against South Sydney, he suffered a broken upper jaw and cracked teeth after a heavy tackle by Jack Rayner.

[4] Three weeks later, he led the Saints to premiership victory and played a leading role in the 19-12 Grand final win over South Sydney.

[5] In 1950, he was in the running for the Ashes series captaincy but injured his knee in the visiting Great Britain national rugby league team's tour match against New South Wales at the SCG which drew a record crowd of over 70,419 and made no further rep appearances that year.

[4] Hawke left St. George to take a captain-coach role at Kyogle, New South Wales and the team won the premiership in his first year as coach.