Hawthorn’s Luke Breust admits his head was somewhat turned by GWS a few years back.
The gun small forward was the subject of interest from the Giants as the Hawks’ premiership dynasty came to an end when they lost in straights sets in the 2016 finals series.
Breust, who hails from New South Wales, had won three premierships in brown and gold between 2013 and 2015 and could have been forgiven for heading back to his home state after experiencing such success in Victoria.
He admits there was some temptation to chase another flag elsewhere, given the Giants were on the march at the time, but ultimately he opted to remain a Hawk.
“The biggest one for me was probably six years ago when the Giants first knocked,” he said on SEN’s Sportsday.
“If that was the time to go, it would have been then. I still had six or seven years to go in my career, trying to build them up towards getting a premiership.”
The Giants would again come calling in the 2021 trade period, but Breust had no intention of leaving the Hawks as Sam Mitchell went about putting together an inexperienced list to commence a rebuild.
“Once I made that call, it’s been a pretty simple decision (to stay),” he added.
“I know what I signed up for, and I know where this group is going.
“Success is always great and fortunately I’ve been able to have that earlier in my career, but at the moment we’re building something really strong at Hawthorn and I’m pretty pleased with the progress of some of these young guys and where we’re going.”
The 32-year-old, who has now ticked over 270 games, has an extremely positive outlook on the trajectory of the Hawks.
They have struggled near the foot of the ladder for the last few seasons, but things appear on the up after two straight wins and three for the season so far.
Breust says that upturn will only continue as the club’s developing players gain more AFL experience.
“I think it can turn around quite quickly but unfortunately to get 30 games into players it takes 18 months in our game… so you’ve got to say probably at least two years,” he added.
“But we’re sort of already 10-12 games into this season already and we’ve seen some significant growth.
“I think the bottom six in any team are so significant and if you get those guys elevating themselves and pushing themselves up and you have competition for spots from VFL players that really drive everyone up, and you have two or three guys that go from B-graders to standouts in the competition, then who knows.
“But I still think we are missing a couple of key guys in some positions, whether that’d through internal development or draft picks or free agency that you fill those voids, a couple of years and you can have a strong year again.”
Breust is on the verge of becoming just the seventh Hawthorn player to kick 500 goals.
He currently sits on 499 goals and is likely to pick off the milestone against Port Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval this weekend.
What will bringing up goal 500 mean to the former Sydney reserves player?
“All the hard work and effort I’ve put in over the journey,” Breust said.
“I pride myself on being accurate and when I do get the shots that I’m dangerous and deadly in front of goal.
“All those sort of things go back down to countless hours that I’ve put in, whether that be out at Waverley or in the off-season, or just mucking around in front of goal with mate and honing my craft.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s an absolutely huge honour and it’s something I’ll reflect on down the track and maybe realise how big an achievement it is.”
Only Jason Dunstall (1254), Leigh Matthews (915), Peter Hudson (727), Michael Moncrieff (629), Lance Franklin (580) and Jarryd Roughead (578) have kicked more goals in Hawthorn colours.
Breust leads the Hawks for goals in 2023, returning 18 in 10 games