Many Hawthorn supporters watched on in admiration last Thursday night as they got a taste of what it’s like playing alongside Luke Hodge.

With the 33-year old fitted with a microphone by Channel 7, the audience watched as Hodge dished out relentless instruction and feedback to his teammates on the way to a stirring upset win for the Hawks.

Hodge played alongside a brigade of young defenders which included Kaiden Brand, James Sicily, Daniel Howe, Ryan Burton and Blake Hardwick, none of which are older than 23 years of age.

“I think in the last five years, we’ve had a pretty senior defence with, I guess, the most junior being Ben Stratton who has now played nearly 150 games,” Hodge told SEN Breakfast on Thursday morning.

“But if you looked at our defence on the weekend, all of them are younger guys, and where probably in the past you wouldn’t have had to talk to them like that it now has a more educational tone.

“Probably in the past you wouldn’t have had to talk like that, we were in a different situation over the last three of four years, but now it is more about teaching these young guys to be more comfortable at AFL level.”

Set to play his 300th game against Geelong in Round 17, Hodge also said that he has a lot of thinking to do over the next month in deciding whether this will be his final year.

“The body is feeling good, the minds good but it’s also a position of where the club is at,” he said.

“It’s got a lot to do with whether you are still passionate about the game and I still love the game and I feel like I’m playing okay footy and if I played next year I reckon I could still play at the same level.

“But it comes down to the footy club, and where it’s at, and family as well. I’ve got three boys and you miss out on a lot of family stuff because you are playing and travelling all the time.”