Veteran Hawk still sets his sights high

HAWK star Shaun Burgoyne might be about to start his 19th AFL season, but the veteran still has mountains to climb.

The 36-year-old yesterday broke the monotony of preseason time trials and weight sessions with a walk up kunanyi/Mt Wellington as he eyes off the AFLX later this month.

The 358-game, four-time premiership champion and proud indigenous player ascended Mt Wellington as part of a cultural walk with Hawthorn’s community camp in Tasmania.

“It is always important to know when you go somewhere what’s happening there and the history there,” Burgoyne said.

“For myself, that is very important. I like doing these things and I think also it is good for other players and staff members to come along and it gives them a little bit of history as well.”

Burgoyne will be vicecaptain of the Deadlys in the AFLX tournament — a shortened version of Aussie rules — on February 22.

“We are in the middle of the hardest training phase of our season and anything to break that up and have a bit of fun, and AFLX is that,” he said.

“We want to play with the best players in the game and we get a chance to do that. I did that a few years ago with international rules and we are doing that now.

“It gives the fans a bit of a taste of what the best players can do when they come together and hopefully the fans come out and enjoy the night too.”