IT’S Friday the 20^th of September, 2013.

Three-quarter time in the Preliminary Final between Hawthorn and Geelong, and the Hawks are facing an uphill battle to reach their second consecutive Grand Final – trailing by 20 points at the final change.

The Hawks desperately needed their big-time players to stand up under the immense and unwavering heat of the bright lights at the MCG that night.

Enter Shaun Burgoyne.

His influence on the contest in that last quarter was profound – arguably his best performance in the brown and gold out of the 150 games that he will have played after tomorrow night’s game against Essendon.

Hawthorn was trailing by 18 points halfway through the last quarter, as Burgoyne laid a crucial tackle on Jimmy Bartel as he tried to get a clearing kick away from his defensive goal square.

Burgoyne’s tackle ensured Bartel’s kick was snaffled by Bradley Hill, who kicked a goal to give the Hawks some momentum, despite still trailing by 12 points.

With Hawks on the burst from halfback minutes later, Cyril Rioli won a loose ball in the middle of the ground. Burgoyne, riding shotgun, took off inside forward 50 with Andrew Mackie as his direct opponent.

As the ball rolled towards goal from a Rioli kick, Burgoyne won a huge one-on-one contest and with Geelong reinforcements arriving fast, fired a handball to Jack Gunston who would kick his fourth goal, bringing the Hawks to within five points of the Cats.

The man known as ‘Silk’ for his amazing skill on a football field is in rare company when it comes to playing in finals football.

Having already played 31 finals, he is level with AFL icon Gordon Coventry and only behind another Hawthorn legend Michael Tuck, who played in 39. He’s averaged 20 disposals per game across the 17 finals he’s played with the Hawks.

As if by fate, Burgoyne would be the man to put the Hawks in front that night.

With five minutes to go in the game, great pressure from the Hawthorn forwards resulted in a Geelong turnover.

Jordan Lewis gathered a handball from Luke Breust and flicked another handball to Gunston in the forward pocket, before Gunston put Burgoyne into an open goal to give the Hawks the lead.

After Geelong missed what would have been a game-levelling shot at goal with 30 seconds to go, it was Burgoyne who raced to the goal square to take the resulting kick-in.

He steered an ice-cool pass to Luke Hodge, who was able to get the ball to the wing, and the Hawks broke their string of losses to the Cats in the most dramatic and remarkable fashion imaginable.

Burgoyne would finish with 24 disposals, three goals and six tackles and Hawthorn’s final-term resurrection had the number 9’s fingerprints all over it.

After coming to the Hawks at the end of 2009, Burgoyne has defied all expectations to miss just four games in his time at Waverley Park.

After tomorrow night, the 34-year-old will be a life member of the Hawthorn Football Club, qualifying with 150 club games to his name.

The four-time premiership player has not missed a senior game since Round 19, 2013.

Tomorrow night’s match at Etihad Stadium will be Burgoyne’s 71^st-straight match. Not bad for someone who arrived at Hawthorn on crutches with a knee problem.

Hawthorn fans and other AFL supporters alike would agree that Burgoyne is a modern statesman of the game; a player who is universally admired for who he is off the field as much as for what he has been able to produce on it.

He will continue to add to that legacy when he takes the field in his 150^th game for Hawthorn tomorrow night.