Hawthorn stars Ben McEvoy and Luke Breust are both set to play their 200th AFL games when they take the field against Collingwood this Friday night.
Both premiership players for the Hawks, Breust will become the 33rd player to run out in a brown and gold jumper at least 200 times while it will be McEvoy’s 109th as a Hawk after 91 appearances as a Saint.
But, despite reaching this significant milestone on the same night, their respective careers have followed differing paths to this point.
For starters, an 18-year-old McEvoy made his debut for the Saints in 2008, almost three full years before Breust ran out for his first AFL game.
Breust was drafted by the Hawks in the rookie draft of 2008, but had to bide his time in his initial years.
By the time the small forward from New South Wales got his chance, the ruckman from country Victoria had already started to make a name for himself.
In fact, Breust’s debut game in 2011 came against St Kilda and Ben McEvoy, who was playing his 38th career game.
Within two years, the pair would be on the same team.
Two years after that, they had celebrated two premiership victories together.
We’ve taken a look at how these two milestone men’s careers have mirrored.
Debut
McEvoy
Round 13 2008 - St Kilda vs Fremantle at Marvel Stadium
Date: June 20, 2008
Stats: 6 possessions, 4 marks, 1 tackle
Breust
Round 8 2011 – Hawthorn vs St Kilda at MCG
Date: May 15, 2011
Stats: 13 possessions, 4 marks, 2 goals
First goal
McEvoy
Eighth career game
Round 16 2009 – St Kilda vs Adelaide at Marvel Stadium
Date: July 19, 2009
Stats: 10 possessions, 7 hit-outs, 1 goal
Breust
First career game
Round 8 2011 – Hawthorn vs St Kilda at MCG
Date: May 15, 2011
Stats: 13 possessions, 4 marks, 2 goals
50th game
McEvoy
Career goals to his name to this point: 14
Career Brownlow votes to his name to this point: 1
Round 22 2011 – Sydney vs St Kilda at ANZ Stadium
Date: August 21, 2011
Stats: 7 possessions, 25 hit-outs, 1 mark
Breust
Career goals to his name to this point: 90
Career Brownlow votes to his name to this point: 5
Round 9 2013 – Hawthorn vs Gold Coast at MCG
Date: May 26, 2013
Stats: 15 possessions, 3 marks, 1 goal
100th game
McEvoy
Career goals to his name to this point: 32
Career Brownlow votes to his name to this point: 2
Round 18 2014 – Hawthorn vs Sydney at MCG
Date: July 26, 2014
Stats: 12 possessions, 27 hit-outs, 4 marks
Breust
Career goals to his name to this point: 191
Career Brownlow votes to his name to this point: 1
Round 9 2015 – Hawthorn vs Gold Coast at UTAS Stadium
Date: May 30, 2015
Stats: 14 possessions, 4 marks, 3 goals
150th game
McEvoy
Career goals to his name to this point: 58
Career Brownlow votes to his name to this point: 2
Round 4 2017 – Hawthorn vs Geelong at MCG
Date: April 17, 2017
Stats: 16 possessions, 18 hit-outs, 7 marks
Breust
Career goals to his name to this point: 288
Career Brownlow votes to his name to this point: 16
Round 10 2017 – Sydney vs Hawthorn at SCG
Date: May 26, 2017
Stats: 13 possessions, 3 marks, 3 goals
200th game
McEvoy
Career goals to his name to this point: 83
Career Brownlow votes to his name to this point: 15
Round 16 2019 – Hawthorn vs Collingwood at MCG
Date: July 5, 2019
Breust
Career goals to his name to this point: 381
Career Brownlow votes to his name to this point: 23
Round 16 2019 – Hawthorn vs Collingwood at MCG
Date: July 5, 2019
