A decade and a half after walking through the doors of Hawthorn as an 18-year-old, Luke Breust has now become the oldest player on his side’s list.

In fact, Breust is the only player in the Hawks squad above the age of 30.

If you do the calculations, you’ll discover the average age of Sam Mitchell's side is currently just 22.1 years, dropping below Adelaide as the youngest team heading into 2023.

But despite now being classified as the most experienced head at the club, the man affectionally known as ‘Punky’ has shown no signs of slowing down.

The two-time All Australian, who was originally selected from Temora with Pick 47 in the 2009 rookie draft, has just commenced his 15^th pre-season.

Despite having tackled summer training for so long, Breust still viewed the annual period as an exciting time.

“I was actually a little bit nervous rolling in on that first day back, thinking about who was going to be here, all the new faces,” Breust said.

“We had a massive draft haul, so I wanted to make sure I caught up with those guys and see what everyone had done in the off-season.”

While his time in the brown and gold has flown by, memories from his earlier days – including of those with now-coach Sam Mitchell – remain fresh in his mind.

“My manager messaged me on the morning of my first day back and said all the best and good luck for number 15 (seasons),” Breust said.

“I think I thought it was probably closer to 12 or 13 – times got away a little bit for me.

“It feels like yesterday that I started kicking goals down here with Sammy Mitchell in my first couple years, now he’s senior coach and I’m the oldest player on the list by three years.”

The 32-year-old signed a one-year extension in September after kicking 40 goals in 2022, locking him in brown and gold until the end of 2024.

The triple premiership forward has previously spoken about his commitment to finishing his decorated career as a one-club player.

And with 260 games on the board, he faces the prospect of becoming just the ninth player in Hawthorn history to play 300 games for the club.

With his extensive knowledge and experience, Breust understands the importance of the expertise he brings to a fresh, young side.

“I’m just trying to impart some knowledge on some of these younger guys and hopefully their journey can be as good as mine,” he said.

“The younger crop is a massive part of where this footy club needs to go, so the more knowledge I can give to them and help them along the way is going to be massive.

“I feel like I’ve already started that with some of the guys in the forward line like Dylan Moore and Sammy Butler – the more I can do that, the quicker this club gets back to where we want to be.”

Despite feeling relatively fit, Breust admits his body has felt the changes in recent years.

“It already started a few years ago I was struggling (to keep up with the younger boys), once the one-kilometre time trials come out I’m sure I’ll be plotting midfield,” Breust laughed.

“These guys come in and they have a body ready for AFL footy – their two-kilometre and one-kilometre times are through the roof.

“They come in, they’re ready, they’re eager, they’re hungry and want to get better.”

Heading into 2023, Breust said he was eager to see several young leaders continue to rise to the plate and drive the club into its new era.

“The thing I’m most excited about is that we opened up the leadership last year and gave guys a chance to really step up and I’m looking forward to seeing who takes that on board come 2023,” he said.

“We need a number of guys to do that so by January/February, I hope to see three or four guys who have really stood up and taken this group by the scruff of the neck and really start driving standards and pushing to where we want to go.”