Shaun Burgoyne strongly considered move to Gold Coast before deciding to stay at Hawthorn for his 20th AFL season
From visiting schools to inspecting property, Hawthorn superstar Shaun Burgoyne reveals how close he came to joining Gold Coast for 2020 and explains why he’s bucked the trend of veteran greats seeing out their careers at the Hawks.
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Hawthorn superstar Shaun Burgoyne has revealed how close he came to joining Gold Coast last year before his head and heart told him to stay put in brown and gold for his 20th AFL season.
At 37 and after 376 games, Burgoyne is the oldest and most experienced player in the competition, and the four-time premiership hero is now certain to see out his career at the Hawks after signing a one-year deal in September.
But he told The Advertiser’s new indigenous podcast ‘Black Australia’ that he strongly considered an offer to reunite with former teammate Stuart Dew and football manager Mark Evans at the Suns.
“We went up and had a look around, checked out schools and real estate and I played with the coach (Dew) and Mark Evans is up there (CEO), he’s a really good operator and a good man,” Burgoyne told the podcast.
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“In the end I always wanted to do what’s best for my family and having a young family it probably wasn’t the best thing to do when my oldest son has just gone to high school.
“I was very appreciative of Gold Coast to let me come up there and give me all the information I needed, and in the end I was very happy to stay at Hawthorn.
“It was extremely tough making that decision, but we made the right decision to stay.”
The AFL’s indigenous games record holder has bucked the trend to remain at Hawthorn this season after other veteran stars Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge, Jordan Lewis, Jarryd Roughead and Grant Birchall either joined rival clubs or retired as they entered their mid-30s.
“When we started getting older we had a meeting and the club said ‘we’re not going to lump you together, you’re all individuals’ and the club did exactly that, each player had their own obstacles or story to go through,” Burgoyne said.
“Clarko (Alastair Clarkson) said the same thing to me: ‘if you keep playing good footy and stay injury free – which I’ve been able to do apart from the last year with a couple of hammies – we’ll think about going again’.
“And I’ve always said to them ‘when you think my time is up tell me because I’d rather know early than late’, and they said they would always be upfront with me.
“It’s a big number 20 (seasons), but it’s gone so quick, I don’t know why I’m still going but I love the game and the challenge of competing against younger kids, trying to hold my spot and we’ve grown up as kids loving footy.
“My uncles played, all my cousins and brothers and that’s where my love for footy grows, and it’s still there.”
In a candid discussion about his background growing up in Port Lincoln and his indigenous heritage, Burgoyne told the podcast he wants Aboriginal history embedded in school curriculums across the country.
His mother’s tribe is the Warray tribe just south of Darwin and his dad’s is the Kokatha and Mirning tribe from the west coast of SA.
“Connection to culture was just a way of life, every day the way we lived. Every chance we could we’d go fishing down the beach or the jetty, in school holidays we’d go camping on the Nullabor or behind Koonibba where my dad was born,” he said.
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“But I don’t think I know enough, I’m always learning and trying to find out more, I was born in Darwin, moved to country South Australia and I’m always trying to learn about my mum’s people in the Northern Territory, it’s a different language altogether.
“Can I speak more language? Learn more words? Learn more stories?
“Because I want to pass it down to my kids, my nieces and nephews and if people have questions I want to be able to answer them.
“I want to stay connected to my people and my family.
“At some stage I don’t know if it’s going to be five, 10 or 20 years, hopefully we can get indigenous culture embedded into our schools.
“We learn about the Romans and the Greeks, their history, we should be teaching Australia’s history to our kids and we should be proud of indigenous people the amount of time they’ve been here and we should celebrate it.”
Burgoyne takes his own children back to Port Lincoln every year and shows them where he grew up, including a new marina that used to house his people’s fish traps.
“You want to educate them about this is where your people lived, it’s part of your identity and you want your kids to know where they came from and what they went through.
“They can grow up informed of their family’s history, and my wife (Amy) talks about her parents and grandparents as well.
“They (the kids) are very interested.”
In Episode 1 of the podcast, Burgoyne also discusses:
■ The origins of his nicknames, ‘Morton’, at Port Adelaide and, ‘Silk’, at Hawthorn.
■ The three guernseys he has framed on his wall at home.
■ The inspiration behind his tattoos.
■ How he’d feel if he had to play on nephew, Trent, at Port Adelaide.
■ The indigenous player meeting on the eve of the 2004 grand final.
■ Football’s ongoing fight against racism.
■ What he’s proudest of in his football career.