IT SEEMS as though he’s a veteran of 200 games, such is the way Luke Breust plays his footy.

On Sunday against Gold Coast at the MCG, almost unbelievably, he plays in just his 50^th AFL match.

Breust is another success story for the AFL’s Rookie List, having been selected by the Hawks as a rookie in 2009 before becoming a key player in Alastair Clarkson’s blueprint for success.

At 22 years of age, Breust is a household name and has achieved so much already in his short career.

Last season was his best, finishing fourth in the Club’s best and fairest and winning the Most Promising award on the same night, recognised for his contribution and improvement in a short period of time.

He also finished second, behind Lance Franklin in the Club’s goal kicking leader board.

Breust says game number 50 has snuck up on him, but is proud to be reaching the milestone with the Hawks.

“It’s a great feeling to be playing my 50^th this week, it’s come up pretty quickly but I’m really proud to have played 50 games for Hawthorn,” he told hawthornfc.com.au

“There’s obviously a great history behind Hawthorn, it’s a proud club and I’m honoured to be able to pull on the brown and gold jumper each week.”

Breust began his career at Hawthorn in the number 47 guernsey before upgrading to the number 22 at the end of his debut year.

In 2012, he quickly cemented his place in Hawthorn’s best 22, with the pain of being dropped for the 2011 Semi Final driving his hunger to succeed.

Breust plays with the composure of a player with more experience than he, a player who has played 200 games such is his ability to keep his cool in pressure situations.

He credits his development years at Box Hill for his ability to seamlessly step into Hawthorn’s side and quickly cement his place in Clarkson’s best side.

“I think I developed that (composure) at Box Hill for the first couple of years and tried to hone my skills down there and luckily enough have had a couple of pretty consistent years,” he said.

“In the last little while, I’ve moved into the midfield and been able to mix up my role which has helped do that.”

He is a crowd favourite and a cult figure at Hawthorn ever since becoming known as the “super sub”, such was his ability to impact a game in a short period.

He became the ultimate substitute player, but it wasn’t long before he was playing each of the quarters and underlining his position in Hawthorn’s best side.

He believes he has taken his opportunity with both hands, and his impact on Hawthorn since Round 1 2012 is proof of that.

Since then, Breust has played in 28 of a possible 30 games, only missing Round 4 and 13 of last season through injury.

“I started as the sub for my first five games and did two years at Box Hill before that so it was a little bit of an apprenticeship down there,” he said.

“Once I got my opportunity I think I’ve taken it with both hands and built over the couple of years.”