GEELONG forward Tom Hawkins' outstanding career has been recognised with inclusion in the Greatest New South Wales team of all-time.

The two-time Premiership player has played 239 games for Geelong and kicked 513 goals to date.

He was recruited under the father/son rule after his father, Jack Hawkins, played 182 AFL games for the Cats between 1973 and 1981.

Hawkins joins fellow Finley junior Shane Crawford in a star-studded team. 

Australian Football Hall of Fame legend Haydn Bunton heads the list of stars honoured in Sydney on Thursday.

Bunton, won three Brownlow Medals with the Lions in the 1930s and three Sandover Medals when he moved to the WAFL to play for Subiaco after he left the VFL, was named as the starting rover. 

Before his latest accolade, Bunton was already a team of the century member for the AFL, along with Fitzroy, Subiaco and NSW.

Bunton played 119 games for Fitzroy. Picture: AFL Photos

The team is littered with greats including North Melbourne champion Wayne Carey, Brownlow medallists Paul Kelly and Shane Crawford and St Kilda Hall of Famer Lenny Hayes.

Sydney coach John Longmire joined long-time NSW and former Kangaroos teammate Carey, Essendon premiership skipper Terry Daniher and Saints goalkicking star Bill Mohr, who booted 735 goals from 195 games from 1929-41, in a powerful forward line. 

Swans club champions and flag-winners Jarrad McVeigh and Kieren Jack were named in the line-up alongside Geelong forward Tom Hawkins and Hawthorn's three-time premiership duo Luke Breust and Isaac Smith.

The project, conceived by the NSW Australian Football History Society and AFL NSW/ACT, was driven by former Sydney chairman Richard Colless, who hand-picked a panel of experts to help with the tough task of picking the final 22. 

Respected journalist Mike Sheahan and 1988 Brownlow medallist Gerard Healy acted as senior selectors, with footy historians and authors Ian Granland, Rod Gillett and Miles Wilks, AFL NSW/ACT boss Sam Graham and AFL commissioner Gabrielle Trainor the rest of the selection team.

NSW products have won seven Brownlow Medals, five Magarey Medals in the SANFL, and three Sandover Medals in the WAFL.