BRAD Sewell goes into battle for Hawthorn for the 200th time in Friday night’s AFL qualifying final against Geelong at the MCG.
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He will mark it in typical Hawks fashion – without too much fanfare.
It is all about getting on with the business at hand.
The focus will be on the team and getting another win over Hawthorn’s biggest rival to earn an important week’s rest and a preliminary final berth.
Sewell will become the 30th player to bring up 200 games with the club, and the third this season following Jordan Lewis and Jarryd Roughead.
Hawks captain Luke Hodge and coach Alastair Clarkson both paid tribute to the dual premiership midfielder earlier his week.
Sewell has missed 10 matches because of hamstring injuries this year.
“You can tell a lot about a bloke when he gets a few knock backs,” Hodge said. “To get to his 200th game is a super effort for someone who has given absolutely everything to football.”
Clarkson labelled the 30-year-old as a big-game performer who was “at his best when the stakes are the highest”.
“We’re hoping that’s the case on Friday night too,” Clarkson Sewell, from Newlyn, began his AFL career as the number seven selection in the 2003 rookie draft.
He grabbed the chance, quickly being elevated to the senior list.
The midfielder has become one Hawthorn’s most decorated players in a golden era – winning the 2007 best and fairest after being third the previous year.
Not bad for a player who had just gone past the 50-game mark.
The hard-nosed tagger achieved the ultimate in 2008 – a premiership. And then became a dual premiership player in 2013.
The 2014 season has been arguably Sewell’s toughest, with his body beginning to show the wear and tear of a decade at the top level.
After his second hamstring injury for the season, Sewell has played the past two games – just in time to get him right for the finals.