With Shaun Burgoyne to play his 400th game on Saturday night, the people who know the Port Adelaide and Hawthorn champion best have spent the week reflecting on the milestone.
The 38-year-old is renowned for his meticulous preparation, having negotiated career-threatening injuries and minor niggles for some time.
“He’s a quirky character, Shaun,” Hawks midfielder Liam Shiels told SEN Breakfast on Friday.
“He’s got about 15 different Swisse tablets in his locker that he reckons have got him to 400 games.
“He also doesn’t train too much. He says the less you train the more you play, so I think that’s part of the secret.”
Hawthorn midfield coach Brendon Bolton says the “ultimate professional” has never lost touch with the magic of the game.
“He eats really well, he recovers well, he’s in the pool regularly to get himself up,” Bolton told SEN SA’s Kymbo and the Rooch on Thursday.
“(But) he can also be the big kid. At the end of training he’ll go into the forward pocket, and we’ll all have a laugh kicking snaps and checksides.
“He still loves the game, that’s why he’s lasted so long. It’s never tired him out, the professionalism.”
Complications from a posterior cruciate ligament injury in his final season at Alberton could have ended Burgoyne’s Hawthorn career before it truly began.
He went to extreme lengths to preserve his left knee, as wife Amy explains.
“He never spoke about it like this is it, this is the end,” she told SEN’s Whateley on Thursday.
“He just took it as ‘I’ve got an injury and I’ll do everything the doctors tell me to do’.
“I remember he had to keep off it for eight weeks… and whatever the doctors tell him to do, he does 100 per cent.”
One day at home in Adelaide, Burgoyne missed a step on his way down the stairs and rather than plant his injured leg to maintain his balance, the then-27-year-old took the fall.
“He’s completely taken out the child gate at the bottom of the stairs, like ripped it from the wall,” Amy remembered.
“I’ve screamed and run over like ‘oh my god are you okay?’
“And he goes ‘I didn’t put my foot down, I kept it up!’ That was all he was worried about, was putting any pressure down.”
Burgoyne and Hawthorn will square off with his former side from 7:40pm on Saturday night at Marvel Stadium.
More in AFL
“This time next year…”: Cornes’ bold pick for his next AFL head coach in waiting
“I think he is the most ready head coach in waiting.”
Unheralded: The players who deserve more credit for their Round 4 performances
These are the players we believe deserve more credit.
Magpies cop shock pair of injuries ahead of Gather Round
The Magpies will be without a couple of their best this weekend.