THE DEPTH at Hawthorn and the relatively clean bill of health has resulted in triple premiership greats Luke Breust and Jack Gunston starting the season outside the 23, but Sam Mitchell believes the veteran pair still have valuable roles to play in 2025.

Gunston returned against Carlton last Thursday night at the MCG, kicking two goals after starting as the sub before replacing Connor Macdonald in the second quarter when the forward suffered a syndesmosis injury.

Breust is yet to play in the senior side this year, but after kicking three goals in his first game for Box Hill since 2011 – he also played in two VFL practice matches – is the likely replacement for Macdonald in the 23 for the trip to Launceston to face Greater Western Sydney.

The 34-year-old was plagued by groin issues in 2024, resulting in him starting as the sub 12 times, including for both the elimination final and semi-final in September, where he played his 300th game in the loss to Port Adelaide.

Mitchell played in the famous three-peat alongside Gunston and Breust and said their attitudes – along with veteran key defender Sam Frost – is part of the reason why the Hawks have rocketed back into premiership contention after bottoming out.

"With guys like Luke, Jack Gunston is a bit the same – and Sam Frost – all in similar positions, they know their best is in the team and they know they would love to play every week, but they know they still add value to the club and value to the team," Mitchell said on Thursday.

"They are great teammates and great people around the club. I think when you've got guys like Luke Breust who have such a great attitude, still out here coaching everyone else, still making everyone better.

"I think the attitude of those guys goes a long way to where we are as a club. It takes a whole squad to go where you want to go.

"He hasn’t had his opportunity yet, but I suspect he will get it at some stage. When he does, he'll know he has a role to help us on-field, rather than at the moment he is doing a lot to help us win, it's just not on the field at this stage."

After playing only one primetime fixture across 2023 and 2024, the Hollywood Hawks will play their fourth straight to start 2025, following two Thursday night fixtures and a Friday night blockbuster.

Hawthorn returns to Tasmania for the first of four games on the Apple Isle this year, where the club has turned York Park into a fortress since the partnership started in 2001. The Hawks have a winning percentage of 74.4% across 82 matches at the venue, banking four premiership points from all four visits in 2024 to extend the current winning streak to six.

"It is definitely a competitive advantage," Mitchell said.

"We've been going to Tasmania for such a long time now, it’s been important for the club off-field, but from an on-field perspective I think on average across 20+ years we probably win one extra game a season because of the advantage there.

"I hope they continue to embrace us the more often we go there. I know there is some competition coming at some point, but hopefully we get as many Hawks fans as possible."

Mitchell said Hawthorn was prepared for GWS coach Adam Kingsley to send Toby Bedford to star midfielder Will Day, after clamping roles from the tagger across the past 18 months at the Giants.

"He has been doing a great job, Toby. He obviously found a role halfway through last year and has done that pretty well," Mitchell said.

"Will has been sat on pretty heavily the last couple of weeks. He has still been able to have a positive impact on the team. He hasn't had as prolific numbers as he did in the first half of the first game of the season.

"If they go to him, it means they have to give up something else. We'll see if we can make that work for the team."

Blake Hardwick has spent most of 2025 playing in attack after completing the full pre-season in that role, but the 28-year-old has previously executed important jobs on Greater Western Sydney superstar Toby Greene.

Hardwick trained as a forward at Waverley Park on Thursday, but Mitchell didn’t rule out sending the forward-turned-defender-turned-forward to the triple All-Australian if required at UTAS Stadium.

"I think Toby Greene and Blake Hardwick have had some great match-ups over the years. I think he kicked a few goals against us last year, but I don't think anyone could play him any better than what Blake did in that game. He could have taken the game completely apart without Blake’s influence," Mitchell said.

"That's one of the things we have to sum up. We need to see their team and see if there is a (Jake) Stringer or a Jesse Hogan and see what their forward mix is like. We will give a match-up based around that. Whether we go with an individual match-up for him or whether we play a team defence is yet to be determined."

Free agency signing Josh Battle has demonstrated his versatility across the first three rounds, performing strongly on Tom Papley, Kyle Langford and Charlie Curnow to highlight his ability to play on all sizes. With that form line, Mitchell might keep Hardwick forward and use the former Saint on the Giants' captain down in Launceston.