Hawthorn veteran Luke Breust will this weekend break the record for most games by a player drafted as a rookie.

The Round 19 clash against Collingwood marks Breust’s 293rd game, seeing him overtake Matthew Boyd who played 292 with the Western Bulldogs.

Breust was drafted at pick 47 in the 2009 rookie draft, making his debut in 2011 in Round 8 against St Kilda where he managed two goals.

In his 292 games to date, Breust has kicked 537 goals and played in three premierships for the Hawks in 2013, 2014 and 2015 - the the iconic three-peat era. 

In addition, he is a two-time All-Australian in 2014 and 2018, as well as a five-time Hawthorn leading goal kicker (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023), accolades which are testament to his influence in the brown and gold.

The 33-year-old spoke to the significance of his upcoming record on SEN’s The Run Home on Thursday evening.

“It’s probably not something you set out to break when you first start playing AFL footy. But to see that pop up last week and equal Boydy was pretty good and to break it this weekend will be nice,” Breust told SEN.

“I’m a big goal setter, when I first started playing it was all about playing the most games as a rookie for Hawthorn, so Brad Sewell was that mark at the time and obviously played alongside Sewelly, he was a great player as well.

“He was sort of the first guy I wanted to run down and then I guess once I got his record, it was then shift it and rewrite it to being the most in the AFL.

“It’s sort of crept up on me a little bit, I thought it was over 300 so I thought I had to get over that 300 mark to get it, so last week it was good to pop up.

“You don’t really think about it we’ve got a game to prep for this weekend and maybe when I’m done, I’ll appreciate it a little bit more.”

Breust said he wasn't shocked by the Hawks' recent run of form and the bounce back from 0-5 to now be sitting at 9-8.

“I wouldn’t say surprised, especially in my situation I probably had the chance to go to other clubs and explore that side of it but I wanted to stick around and being a one club player was huge for me,” Breust said.

“I knew that I was in for some more lean years than what '12, ’13, '14, '15 for us was some pretty special years at the Hawks.

“We knew the young talent we had on the list, it was more how quickly they could come on and how many games they needed to actually make it and feel comfortable and have that belief at AFL level.”

As an experienced head among the young Hawks group, Breust shared how he’s further embraced his role as a mentor this season.

“It’s been a bit of a frustrating year for me personally with a bit of injury and like my body’s been so good to me, so that’s been frustrating,” he told SEN.

“But I’ve loved the role this year, it probably took me the first four or five rounds to get my head around not having the impact that I probably wanted to personally, but then what can I be doing, so the sub role and getting as much out of the players as I can and giving back to them on game day.

“I think they love having someone to chat to on the bench who’s in it, who’s been there, little tips and tricks.

“Like between myself and Jack Gunston I feel like we’ve got a pretty good spread across the forward line of what they’re like and their personalities.

“As I said I’ve sort of leant into that a bit more this year and I’m really enjoying it.”

Breust also spoke to the hard work that goes on behind closed doors contributing to the growth in the group, and how his former teammate turned senior coach continues to drive high standards across the board.

“Every week, constantly reinforcing it and showing vision. I think it’s been a two-and-a-half-year journey to try and implement this game plan that Sam wants us to play,” Breust said.

“So a lot of people ask this year ‘What’s changed?’ like from being zip and five to now having this really good run, well not too much has changed we’re sticking to this game plan, we’re still trying to play the way the Hawks want to play and take it on.

“But fortunately for us, things have started to click now and as I mentioned before these younger guys are starting to get some real belief that they can play and confidence at the level.”