Hodge mulls move to Lions

LUKE Hodge admits he has been drawn to an offer from the Brisbane Lions to continue his decorated career by the prospect of stepping into a greater mentoring and coaching role with young players.

The Hawthorn premiership star is weighing up an approach by the Lions to put retirement on hold and extend his 305-game AFL career beyond 2017.

Hodge, 33, would be reunited with Lions coach and longtime Hawks football boss Chris Fagan if he makes the shock move to keep playing.

The four-time premiership player said he would not rush into a decision about a potential move north that would see him mirror former teammates Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis by finishing their careers away from Hawthorn.

Hodge said he still had as much passion as ever for the game and this season had sparked his interest in coaching and mentoring players.

“I actually loved playing last year more than 2016 and a lot of people might say ‘why is that?’ We finished in the top four in 2016 and last year was a different phase and it made me grow into the coaching side of things,’’ Hodge said yesterday.

“Last year Hawthorn peo- ple know we had a lot of injuries, we had [Grant] Birchall out for the season, [Ben] Stratton out for most of the season and same with [James] Frawley.

“I was playing down back with [Jack] Gunston who played three games as a defender, I had [Ryan] Burton, [James] Sicily, [Blake] Hardwick and [Kaiden] Brand, a couple of 19 and 20-year-olds and a 22-year-old.

“I loved it because you sit there teaching young kids what I have been able to learn across my journey.

“It’s nothing that I have taken for granted — I loved last year coaching the kids.

“When we got talking, ‘Fages’ goes, ‘that’s all we want from you, you’re not coming up to be the best player’. He goes ‘you’re coming up there to be a mentor for these young defenders’.’’

Hodge said he had been urged by his mentors, including Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson, to take the “emotion” out of any decision about his future.

“Clarko said, ‘You’ve got a month to make a decision — take the emotion out of your decision because if your emotion is stuck in the decision you’re going to be staying at Hawthorn and you will never want to do anything else’,’’ Hodge said.