BY ANY small forward's standards, Luke Breust has had another excellent season.
The 22-year-old Hawk has played every game, booting 38 goals (ranked equal-third at the club) and laying an impressive 100 tackles (ranked first).
But while he prides himself on his forward pressure and has been pleased to deliver on that front, there is one thing that has continued to bug Breust a little - set shots.
The New South Welshman has booted 18.19 from marks or free kicks in 2013, a hit rate of 48.6 per cent.
It puts him in the bottom three for accuracy among the top 50 players for goals from set shots this season.
Although far from panicked, Breust knows it's an issue, and has worked hard to rectify it with the help of Hawks high performance coach David Rath and assistant coach Adem Yze.
"In the middle of the season I changed to try and kick a hook, and then I went back to my natural ball flight, which has got a little left to right to it," Breust told hawthornfc.com.au this week.
"I went back to that later in the season, and that's when it started to work.
"But on the weekend I just pulled a couple left.
"I think that probably happens when I'm trying to kick it too far – I might be outside my distance.
"Around the 50m arc is right on my limit.
"Inside that, I'm pretty comfortable, but maybe outside that I should be looking to pass off."
Far from rattled, Breust still has confidence in his ability to convert from set shots, and in his routine, which he has not felt the need to change.
"I still think it's pretty reliable – it's just that it's let me down a few times this year," he said.
"But I still feel confident when I'm at the top of my mark that I can go back and kick the goal.
"I've just got to keep practising each week, and hopefully that practice pays off on game day."
Breust's two misses in last Friday night's qualifying final against the Sydney Swans – both from just inside the 50m line – hardly mattered as the Hawks powered away to win by 54 points to qualify for a third straight preliminary final.
Although the signs are good that the club is peaking at the right time, Breust referred back to last season when an easy qualifying final win over Collingwood was followed by a flat performance a fortnight later against Adelaide.
"There's still a lot of work to be done," he said.
"The preliminary final and Grand Final are the two most important games, so we can't rest on our laurels.
"It's pretty important that we don't get ahead of ourselves.
"We'll watch the game [between Geelong and Port Adelaide] with a fair bit of interest to find out who we'll play in the prelim, and then it will be head down and concentrate on them.
"Whichever opponent it is, it's going to be a pretty tough match."
