Hodge entered the 2008 Grand Final under a severe injury cloud, with doubts over his fitness due to a suspected rib injury.
Predictably, before the first ball had been bounced, numerous Cats confronted Hodge, intending to perform their own fitness test on the Hawks star’s ribs.
Hodge laughed the Cats players off and, in a moment that sums up so much of Hodge’s career, the Hawk lifted his arm and invited the torture to his rib cage.
Hodge would go onto have one of the most memorable performances of his career, shrugging off adversity to win his first Norm Smith Medal.
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The Hawks were hosting the Bulldogs on a wet day at Aurora Stadium in Round 17 2013.
Despite the ladder suggesting the game would be anything but a tight affair, with the Hawks in top spot and Dogs sitting 15th, Hawthorn had been challenged by a brave Bulldog outfit throughout a combative first half.
But in the dying minutes of the opening half, Ryan Griffen looked likely to win a clearance for his side before Luke Hodge swamped the Dogs’ skipper.
Out of nowhere, Hodge lunged at Griffen’s boot, not only smothering his kick but holding onto the ball as well.
Taking no more than six steps, Hodge set sail from 75 metres out from goal with a ranging torpedo punt.
With a single bounce in the goal square, Hodge goaled with a moment that put a dagger through a gallant Bulldogs’ effort.
Already 40 points up midway through the second quarter, the Hawks had exploded out of the blocks in the 2014 Grand Final against Sydney.
A scintillating run and flying shot for goal from Paul Puopolo narrowly missed its target as Hawks fans around the ground were forced to momentarily place a lid on their bulging excitement.
But said lid burst off only moments later when the ensuing Gary Rohan kick-in, designed for former Hawk Ben McGlynn, was cut off by a sharp Luke Hodge.
Hodge wasted no time, booting the ball back over Rohan’s head and putting the Hawks 47 points ahead of an overwhelmed Swans outfit.
As the minutes died down on a telling third term, the Hawks had put the 2014 Grand Final out of the reach of the Sydney Swans.
Leading by 61 points, the Swans were showing signs of conceding defeat as the Hawks charged towards their second consecutive premiership.
In his first year at the Swans, former Hawk Buddy Franklin had played admirably, ultimately finishing with four goals on the day.
Franklin had not shirked the confrontational physicality with his former teammates all day, but as the game grew older, the superstar goal kicker became increasingly frustrated.
Having had numerous encounters with Hodge especially throughout the game, Franklin went at his former skipper again.
But as Franklin again threatened Hodge with a bump or two, the mood quickly changed as a wry grin appeared on both players’ faces.
What happened next is probably best described by Hodge himself.
“I corked him a ripper last time we played, and then throughout the game he got me a couple of times, in the forearm and a couple of times in the back,” Hodge said on radio station Nova 100 on the following Monday after the Grand Final win.
“He went to chest me again and I kind of gave him a peck on the cheek.
“When it happened, I was like I didn’t know why I did it, but it seemed like the right idea at the time.
“He (Buddy) ran through me a couple of times and gave me a few words so I thought the best thing to do was give him a kiss on the cheek to let him know we’re still here.”
The Hawks had started the 2015 Grand Final off strongly against the West Coast Eagles, taking a 19-point lead into the first break.
Just a minute into the second term, Luke Hodge found himself battling for a ball inside the Hawks’ forward 50.
The ball bobbled momentarily before finding the hands of a waiting Hodge.
Off one step, Hodge sent off a banana that miraculously bended its way through the big sticks.
Hodge turned to the crowd with an almighty celebration in what was arguably the defining moment of the match, albeit early, where the Hawks showed themselves to be a class above the Eagles.
