Hawthorn star Shaun Burgoyne opens up on his AFL journey, family life and what drives him to keep playing
THEY don’t give you a nickname like ‘Silk’ unless you’re special. And Shaun Burgoyne is certainly special. As game 350 approaches, he opens up on family life, joining the Hawks and what still drives him.
Hawthorn
Don't miss out on the headlines from Hawthorn. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE “Burgoyne kids sports schedule” is pinned to the corkboard in the study nook beside the kitchen.
With a family of four children aged between two and 11, it may as well be the Bible for a decorated AFL footballer dad and a busy mum trying to coordinate it all.
On Monday, Percy, who turns 9 on Sunday, has a basketball game and Ky, 11, has basketball practice.
STAR HAWK: BURGOYNE AND MCLACHLAN ONE-ON-ONE
TRADE TV: WHO IS YOUR CLUB TARGETING?
NEW HAWK: IMPEY SET FOR EMOTIONAL REUNION
Tuesday is Percy’s football training and on Wednesday he has basketball practice.
Thursday is when Ky goes to football training.
On Friday Leni, 5, hones her netball skills.
Come Saturday, Ky has a basketball game, and Sunday morning revolves around Ky and Percy playing three footy games between them as little Nixie, 2, watches.
Among all that, dad Shaun will fit his sport in. He has a commitment next Saturday night after Ky’s basketball. It just happens to be his 350th AFL match.
Shaun Playford Burgoyne, 35, is in his 18th season as an All-Australian and four-time premiership star at Port Adelaide and Hawthorn.
Only Hall of Fame legend Michael Tuck (39) has played more finals than Burgoyne (33) — a big-moment giant in a game he has commanded with a calibre of class and skill shown by the precious few.
It’s a resume that ensures he is loved by the brown and gold family, but it’s the East Bentleigh family to whom he comes home who treats him no differently than if he was a delisted rookie.
The Sunday Herald Sun was invited to the home for a refreshing insight into the man we rarely see — Shaun Burgoyne the dad. No MCG roar and no TV cameras, just pick-ups, drop-offs, misplaced toys and the weekly juggle.
“If I play Sunday afternoons I normally go to the boys’ footy in the morning and then catch an Uber to the game,” Burgoyne said.
But unlike the sticky situations he evades so gracefully on the field, the choice of transport has put him in the odd tricky spot.
“A couple of weeks ago the Uber driver dropped me off under the train overpass near Brunton Ave because it had been blocked off,” he said. “So I just put my hoodie on and walked in with all the Hawks fans.
“I tried to face the ground, but it’s a bit hard to avoid getting noticed when you’re decked out in the Hawthorn tracksuit.”
Then there was the time the car battery went flat at Ky’s footy game and the family had to return to a deserted suburban oval in the middle of the night after a Hawks game with a set of jumper leads.
For all of Burgoyne’s on-field heroics, these are the logistic nightmares to which every parent can relate.
His wife, Amy, is the ultimate teammate. If Burgoyne is known as “Silk”, then Amy should be nicknamed “Glue” because of the work she does to keep it all together. As a couple, they were meant to be — the girl from Adelaide and the boy from Darwin, who was raised in Port Lincoln, South Australia.
Before they were born, Burgoyne’s dad got his first job on Amy’s grandfather’s farm. Shaun and Amy met when they were 13.
“Because we’ve been together since we were 15 I’ve watched all his games,” Amy said.
Burgoyne replied: “Early days you didn’t come to all the games. You were tossing up, ‘Should I go out to the club and get p---ed or come to the game?’.”
And what decision did she make?
“She’d go to the club,” Burgoyne said, laughing.
“Well you didn’t come to all my netball,” Amy countered.
She added: “When Shaun played his first game in the (pre-season) Ansett Cup against Fremantle, I ripped off the back of a chip packet and wrote his stats down and I’ve still got it. I’m a passionate partner.”
Asked how he’s been able to play so many games, Burgoyne offered a chuckle and deferred to Amy.
“I just think he’s dedicated,” she said. “If the fitness staff say, ‘Do this’ he does it. He doesn’t take shortcuts.”
Burgoyne is meticulous about diet — no mean feat in a family with four little ones. But parents and children eat different meals each night.
Burgoyne’s locker at the club is what he describes as a “mini pharmacy” of over-the-counter supplements he swears by, even if his teammates never miss an opportunity to tease him about it.
What is clear is that the longevity is not down to good fortune. In fact, he’s had his fair share of misfortune.
His debut season in 2001 was ruined by osteitis pubis.
“My groins were stuffed,” he said.
In 2009 there was the serious knee injury that coincided with his move to Hawthorn.
“It doesn’t help when you go in and the surgeon says, ‘If this goes wrong it’s your career as well’,” Burgoyne said.
He was so determined to keep weight off the joint that, while packing to move to Melbourne, he was willing to fall down a flight of stairs to protect it.
“I screamed because I heard this noise and turned around and he was just flying down the stairs,” Amy said.
Burgoyne played the 2012 Grand Final with a syndesmosis injury that needed surgery and, later, injections to fix blood clotting. There’s also been a broken jaw and a reconstructed thumb.
“I’ve been made to earn it,” he said.
“But a hamstring earlier this year (Round 2) was the first soft tissue injury of my career. I tried to keep playing, but I had no power when I sprinted so I came off.
“They were like, ‘Why are you coming off?’ and I said, ‘I think I’ve done my hammy. What’s it supposed to feel like?’.”
His career has been split in two — the earlier days at Port Adelaide with older brother Peter, good mate Byron Pickett and childhood hero Gavin Wanganeen, followed by the trophy-laded run at Hawthorn.
The move to Hawthorn in a four-club trade in 2009 after 157 games and a flag with the Power was a wrench.
“At the time a lot was happening off the field,” Burgoyne said.
“Obviously Peter retired and it was hard to accept he was coming to the end. There was so much commotion made of the captaincy in the media and a lot of it negative, which was a distraction. And with my knee, I wasn’t happy with the way that went.
“I should have had the whole year off. But looking back, I was having injections in my knee Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday every week to train and play.
“I just wasn’t in a good place and my manager said, ‘Hawthorn are interested in you’. I’d never thought of leaving and if ‘Clarko’ (coach Alastair Clarkson) and (fitness boss) Andrew Russell weren’t there I wouldn’t have joined the Hawks.”
At 350 games, Burgoyne sits second to Adam Goodes (372) for games played by an indigenous player and joins Doug Hawkins at 15th overall.
By the end of the home-and-away season he could be as high as 11th.
“I’ll keep going until I break, pretty much,” he said.
“Past players say you know when the time is right and it hits you, but that hasn’t happened to me and I’m still enjoying playing and training. Not the pre-season so much and I do get teased about how much I get looked after at that time of year.
“I’m not going to get any fitter at my age.”
Amy gave her husband a quizzical look — Burgoyne was too modest to point out that in Round 1 he broke his GPS record for speed.
Like the birthday present for the person who’s got everything, what motivates the man who’s won everything?
Is it a fifth flag? Individual honours? Legacies?
Burgoyne paused and scanned the room.
“Right now, what’s driving me is my wife and children,” he said. “I get to create memories with my boys and girls, who get to come to the footy now and watch me.
“I want to play as long as possible. We moved here with no family support and to create these memories is what keeps me going.
“As much as all the premierships, when I look back I think what will make me proud is what we’ve been able to do, coming to Melbourne as a family.”
LIVE stream every match of every round of the 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season on FOX SPORTS. Get your free 2-week trial & start watching in minutes. SIGN UP NOW >
‘Need to grow up’: Sad end to Ginnivan storm
Hawthorn forward Jack Ginnivan has closed the book on the fiery scenes that rocked the AFL last week with a sad confession.
Star Hawk to undergo surgery
A star Hawthorn midfielder will spend the off-season in recovery as the semi-finalists prepare for a premiership tilt in 2025.