Such is the intensity with which AFL football is played in the modern era that longevity in the game becomes more and more difficult. Which makes this a particularly remarkable couple of weeks.
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Last Sunday, at the MCG, Port Adelaide veteran Travis Boak became just the 23rd player in VFL/AFL history to play 350 senior games. And on Easter Monday at the MCG, Geelong's Tom Hawkins will be the 24th.
It's pretty select company when you consider that prior to this Easter round, no fewer than 13,114 people had played at least one game of league football. In other words, Boak and Hawkins have reached a milestone just 0.18 per cent of all players previously have.
Their 2007 debuts seem long enough ago in a life sense, let alone in a football context. John Howard was Australia's Prime Minister then. Kevin Sheedy was still coach of Essendon. Star draftee Harley Reid hadn't yet turned two years old when Hawkins played his first game for the Cats.
Both have been through plenty. There's certainly been several ups and downs for Boak's Port Adelaide over the journey. He played in a grand final in his first season and just his 14th game. Four years later, he was part of a side which won just three games for the season and missed a wooden spoon on percentage only.
It was when Port was at its lowest ebb that Geelong made a concerted play for the midfielder, who'd grown up in Torquay, but Boak stayed true to the club which had originally drafted him, the result he is now one of just 15 players to reach the 350 milestone as a one-club player.
On Easter Monday, when Geelong plays Hawthorn, that will become 16. But in one contrast to Boak, Hawkins, whose father Jack was another Geelong favourite in the 1970s, has known little but success his entire career. Indeed, last year was only the second time in his 17 completed seasons that the Cats had missed out on finals.
Hawkins has played in 32 finals, the fourth-highest tally in league history. He has been on the winning side in 246 wins from his 349 appearances, the fifth-most in football history and an amazing strike-rate for that amount of games of just over 70 per cent.
But common to both these wonderful players is perhaps their most remarkable asset, the quality of football they have maintained into their mid-30s. Boak and Hawkins both turn 36 later this year, but each have produced football in their 30s at least the equal to, if not better, than what came before.
Twice a best and fairest winner with Port, Boak won his second in 2019 at 31 and was runner-up the following three years. He won the third of his three All-Australian nominations at 32.
Boak was runner-up to Lachie Neale in the 2020 Brownlow Medal count, and in 2021 became the oldest person to poll 25 votes in a Brownlow at the age of 33.
Hawkins, meanwhile, has been an All-Australian five times. Four of those gongs have come after the age of 31. Gary Ablett senior, a player many argue is not only Geelong's but the game's greatest ever, is the only other man named All-Australian four times after reaching 30.
A serious back injury at one stage looked likely to seriously curtail Hawkins' career. But that was more than 10 years ago, in 2013, when he was just 25. His durability and consistency since then has been quite amazing.
Hawkins was Geelong's leading goal-kicker in 11 consecutive seasons (2012-22), behind only Australian Football Hall of Fame Legend Gordon Coventry (16 in a row at Collingwood) and St Kilda's Bill Mohr (12 straight).
The clear turning point in his career was a big moment indeed, his match-winning performance for the Cats in the 2011 grand final against Collingwood, finishing with 19 disposals, nine marks and a decisive 3.3 with a goal assist.
At that point, Hawkins had kicked 107 goals in 79 games, an average of 1.35 per game. He's never kicked fewer than 46 goals in a season since, his remaining 679 goals coming at an average of 2.51.
His career total of 786 has him 13th on the all-time goal-kickers list. He's odds-on to move past Jack Riewoldt, Matthew Richardson and Bernie Quinlan by the end of this season. And another six games after Monday will take him past great mate and former premiership skipper Joel Selwood as Geelong's record games holder.
Boak did his bit in Port Adelaide's 30-point win over Richmond to mark the 350 milestone, 15 disposals and a goal assist helping the Power home. Hawkins goes into Monday's clash against long-time rival Hawthorn having just booted four goals against Adelaide and receiving five votes in the AFL coaches' award.
And what both continue to achieve in a game, in a world often obsessed with youth, brings to mind an old Australian rock song by Richard Clapton. The title? "The Best Years Of Our Lives".
