Jack Gunston and Luke Breust the most reliable forward combination in the AFL, writes Matthew Lloyd
HAWTHORN got straight back to business without Cyril Rioli in its quest for a top-four spot and they have two men in particular to thank for that, Luke Breust and Jack Gunston, writes Matthew Lloyd.
Matthew Lloyd
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CYRIL Rioli’s early retirement came as a major shock to most people outside the Hawthorn Football Club.
Internally, it wouldn’t have been a huge surprise but losing a player of that quality at just 28 would have challenged most clubs, but not Hawthorn.
Alastair Clarkson has never allowed Hawthorn be about one player or let emotion get in the way of the club’s next premiership assault.
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The Hawks just got straight back to business without Rioli in their quest for a top-four spot and they have two men in particular to thank for that, Luke Breust and Jack Gunston.
There is no more consistent or reliable forward duo in the AFL.
While they have six premierships between them, there is not a skerrick of complacency in their games and both are on track for career-best seasons.
Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis and Cyril Rioli have been revered at Hawthorn and rightly so because they have performed in the big games which led to the run of three premierships from 2013-15.
With that, some players don’t get the recognition they deserve and Breust and Gunston fall into that bracket.
Somehow both still go under the radar, but they are so good they could become AFL Hall of Famers by the time their careers are over. That is how highly I rate them.
They do not play the game with the physicality and power of a Michael Voss or Mark Ricciuto but they have the skill, poise, class and decision-making that so few others possess.
At a time when goalkicking continually lets teams down, week in and week out you just back in Gunston and Breust as you feel at ease with the ball in their hands.
The dynamic duo look at peace with the world when kicking for goal, when with others you can see the fear in their eyes.
Breust is this season ranked the No.1 small forward in the game for goals kicked, score involvements and groundball gets inside 50m.
Breust’s positioning and timing to swoop on a ball that has come off a pack is one of the most beautiful sights in football.
He is the complete player because he also ranks elite for forward-half pressure, which is priceless.
He has 48 goals this season, just six behind the Coleman Medal leader Ben Brown and he looks set to surpass the 57 goals he kicked in the premiership season of 2014.
Breust has never kicked less than 30 goals in any of his eight seasons, which is just phenomenal.
Durability is also a strong consideration when evaluating a player’s worth and Breust has missed just three games of AFL football in seven years.
Gunston destroyed Essendon last Saturday afternoon.
The one-time Crow had 24 disposals, took eight marks and kicked 5.3.
Gunston is one of those players that is hard to plan for because at 193cm it’s hard to know what sort of player to play on him because of how well he moves for his size.
Hawthorn has recruited better than anyone else over the last decade in the way they have targeted players for specific needs.
The club identified Gunston very early on, prizing him out of Adelaide after two seasons and just 14 games, giving up selections 24, 46 and 64. What a deal.
When factoring in whether a player should ever be considered as a Hall of Famer, their record in big games should always be considered and Gunston loves the big stage.
In just his second season at the Hawks, he went mighty close to winning the Norm Smith Medal, coming second to Brian Lake with his four goals that set the win up early.
Gunston also kicked four in Hawthorn’s rout of the West Coast Eagles in the 2015 Grand Final where he was one of the Hawks’ best.
Goals are great but it’s the flexibility to be able to play multiple positions at an elite level which makes Gunston such a valuable player.
Hawthorn may well have the Brownlow Medallist in their side this season in Tom Mitchell but to me, Breust and Gunston will always be Hawthorn’s point of difference.
As an opposition player or coach, you just don’t know what they are capable of doing from one moment to the next, which makes Hawthorn extremely hard to plan for.
Breust and Gunston have 88 goals between them in 2018 and will be a major headache for the Geelong defence today as we count down the days until the September action which the Hawks look set to be a part of, yet again.
With Breust and Gunston, you stop one, the other will get you.
You lose concentration for a split second and they will make you pay.
Luke Breust and Jack Gunston are the total package.
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Originally published as Jack Gunston and Luke Breust the most reliable forward combination in the AFL, writes Matthew Lloyd