HAWTHORN’S Jordan Lewis says it feels like it’s taken notime to reach his 50-game milestone, which he’ll mark this weekend against Sydney at the SCG.

“It’s flown. We’ve been very lucky in our draft. Myself, Buddy(Lance Franklin) and Roughy (Jarryd Roughead) to get games early…it’s come uppretty quickly,” he says.

The 21-year-old from Warrnambool made his debut in roundthree, 2005 and received a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination in his debut season.

“We probably didn’t play that well early on but ‘Clarko’stuck with us and gave us more games and it’s paying dividends now.”

Lewis says that of all of his teammates, he is closest tothe players who joined him on his first day at Hawthorn.

“[Roughead and Franklin] are probably my two best mates atthe club. Because you get drafted together and you don’t really know anyone,you get close to the guys that you get drafted with,” Lewis says.

Lewis’ midfield coach Todd Viney has been at the club sincehe joined and he believes that the former Melbourneplayer, who was known for his even temperament on the field, has been a goodinfluence on him.

“I just try to suck every little bit of information that Ican out of him. He lets us put our input in and then he gives us advice,” Lewissays of the former Demons skipper.

“Off the ground, I’ve an even temperament but on the groundI can be a little fiery at times. I try to control that.

“I think it’s just the competitive side of everyone thatcomes out when you step across that white line. Everyone wants to win and Ithink everyone will do a little bit extra to win.”

Lewis says Viney pulls no punches when it comes to assessinghis performance.

“He’s pretty straight down the line, so he’ll tell youwhether you’ve had a good or a bad game which is what you want from a coach.You don’t want a coach that tells you lies. He’s always been honest which hasbeen really good for me,” Lewis says.

The rugged on-baller insists that at home, he isdomestically superior to his housemate Campbell Brown, but that the two of themhave different specialties when it comes to kitchen fare.

“My favourite to cook is honey soy chicken stir fry. He’smore the steak and veggies kind of guy. The night before a match, we’ll alwayshave a spaghetti bolognese though,” Lewis says.

Just as before every game, the pair will have their usual pastadish this Friday night before playing Sydney.

Lewis believes that having already beaten the premiers, thegame against the Swans will be a real litmus test for the club.

“We’ve had a really good start to the season. We’ve had somereally big challenges so far and we’ve been able to overcome them,” he said.

“We’re just taking it one week at a time. We’re solelyfocused on Sydneythis week. We just want to get to the break and be on top of the ladder.”