If all goes to plan, the Hawks could celebrate as many as 11 milestones in 2019, *touch wood*.
Grant Birchall headlines a star-studded list, with the veteran just five games off his 250th. Stranded on 245 since Round 15 2017, Birchall looks set to make his awaited return early in 2019 after a long recovery from a knee injury.
Read: Birch aiming for a 'smarter' pre-season
Four Hawks are edging closer to their 200th game milestones and three of those could come in consecutive weeks; Luke Breust sits on 185 games, Liam Shiels on 186 and Ben McEvoy on 187, meaning rounds 14 to 16 could be a busy time at Hawks’ HQ. Isaac Smith could continue the celebrations in Round 20, with the wingman’s games tally currently at 181.
After starting their careers in South Australia, both Ricky Henderson (130) and Chad Wingard could bring up 150 this year, while Jarman Impey is just one game away from a century.
A trio of youngsters are closing in on their first official games milestone, with Blake Hardwick (44), Tim O’Brien (46) and Kaiden Brand (38) within reach of 50 games.
On another note, and perhaps the most significant of all potential milestones, Shaun Burgoyne is close to surpassing Adam Goodes for the title of most games played by an Aboriginal player in league history.
Burgoyne has notched up 358 games over 17 seasons, and sits just 14 games shy of Goodes’ 372-game record.
