WHEN Luke Hodge sits down to chat about the pathway from knocking about in Colac to the Australian Football Hall of Fame, he talks about the holy trinity of life – family, mates and footy.

But then he pauses to correct himself. Footy gets bumped up the order.

It is the best explanation he can offer for having one of the sharpest footy minds of the modern era. He was moving names around the whiteboard as a junior, directing traffic on the ground from pretty much every game he played for Hawthorn – and superbly captured by the Channel Seven microphones one night in Adelaide – and especially those he played for Brisbane after that, the very reason Chris Fagan brought him to the then battling Lions.

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"I lived at footy clubs," he said.

"I remember Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'd get down there for junior training and leave after senior training, after the selection. And I don't know whether that was just a part of being around older blokes who'd talk football, so you'd understood football."

That and watching football on TV religiously every Friday night and Sunday (having played and watched local footy on Saturday) helped shape a player whose football intellect helped him skate through the talent pathways to become the first player picked at the legendary 2001 AFL Draft. While his skill and toughness were undeniable, his body wasn't yet as compliant and his professionalism was a work in progress.

"I don't know whether that was just a part of being around older blokes who'd talk football, so you understood football," he said.

"I probably got away with things early with my fitness and professionalism, but because I understood the game it probably hid a few of the flaws I had."

Hodge was a fine player in average-to-poor Hawthorn teams from the time he debuted in early 2002, but he carried some burdens. First, the Hawks had traded up with Fremantle to grab that No.1 selection, sending the fan favourite Trent Croad to the Dockers as part of the deal. Second, Chris Judd, who the Eagles drafted with the No.3 selection, tore it up pretty much from his debut game and over the next few years the comparisons between Hodge and Judd came thick and fast and ultimately cost Hawks recruiting manager John Turnbull his job.

Then there was the lure of Colac and his propensity to return home every so often, perhaps a bit too often, to hang with his family and his mates.

He didn't quite reach the crossroads in 2005. The penny had started to drop a bit before then, but the arrival of Alastair Clarkson as coach and Andrew Russell as high-performance boss ahead of that season turned Hodge into a superstar.

"He dragged me up to the standard," Hodge said of Russell. "He said I needed to spend more time in Melbourne with people who are athletes, who think and live football, who don't have that shitty snack or that beer when it's not the right time."

Russell was a massive influence. So was Clarkson, who moved Hodge to the midfield in 2005 – his breakout year and the year he won his first All-Australian blazer.

"We were so far behind," Hodge said of the pre-Clarkson Hawks. "But that was the first phase of getting pushed harder."

There were other influences. Teammates Brad Sewell and Tim Clarke were, he said, "blokes whose habits I tried to follow.".

And there was Sam Mitchell, who arrived at Hawthorn in the same summer as Hodge, but far less heralded.

"I guess we were polar opposites," Hodge said.

"He was a bookworm, and I never read a book. He was the ultimate professional whereas I was the laconic kid from Colac."

They drove and complemented each other – and Hawthorn supporters endlessly debate who was better – but Mitchell was precisely the type that Russell had urged Hodge to emulate.

"I guess me spending more time with him, he dragged me up to that standard," he said, while suggesting that a bit of his personality might have rubbed off on Mitchell as a player and now as a coach.

Hodge was vice-captain to Mitchell in 2008 when the Hawks stormed to a surprise premiership. Within a few years, Hodge took over that role and he hoisted the premiership cup after three straight victorious Grand Finals – 2013 to 2015.

By that stage, Hodge was the complete footballer. He might have been at his best from 2005 when at last, he was fully fit and fully engaged. Armed with that brilliant football mind, he was among the premier midfielders in the AFL.

But the move to half-back in late 2008 was the final piece of the puzzle for Hodge and the Hawks.

Clarkson reasoned that while Hodge was doing all that was needed and more, they also had one too many midfielders whereas across half-back he could lead and direct and pierce the opposition with his brilliant field kicking. Add to that his toughness and occasional 'unsociability' and he was the complete footballer.

"It opened my eyes to parking your own ego on the side, do the best for the team and success will come," he said.

"If we had been bundled out straight away that year, I probably would have gone back and told him he was a bloody liar," he said with a laugh.

"But eventually that worked, and from then, it was always like, well, if it's me or the team, it's proven that sometimes you take a backward seat, still play your role and you can have success."

Hodge won the Norm Smith Medal in both the 2008 and 2014 Grand Finals. Yet when asked about why he played so well in big games he referred to the mantra instilled by Clarkson at the Hawks but inspired by the NBA's San Antonio Spurs.

"Be reliable, not remarkable. If you wanted to go and see flashy basketball, it's LeBron James. If you wanted to see the essence of basketball, selfless, no fuss, simple basketball, it was the Spurs."

It was how the Hawks won those three straight flags between 2013 and 2015.

"A lot of things we did were just simple, good, honest, team-first stuff. And I think that's why a lot of our players were able to stand up in big occasions," he said.

Hodge's Hall of Fame induction is right up there in a career full of highlights. Others include his debut in 2002 against Richmond, a club he adored until the minute the game started.

The four flags are up there, but so are the preliminary finals that preceded them, especially the Kennett curse-busting win over Geelong in 2013.

But the painful memories of missing the finals in 2009 after the flag win the year before and the heartbreak of the 2011 and 2012 near misses drove him hard as well.

"It was a fun place to play, and it was enjoyable to be at because of what we were able to achieve," he said.

"But after 2009 we never got ahead of ourselves. We celebrated the premierships for two or three weeks but then came 'crossroads day' as we called it. The message went out to the entire group, no matter where in the world they might be, to start acting like professional athletes again."

It was that sort of mindset that made Hodge one of the most admired players in the AFL at his prime and explains why Fagan was so relentless in his quest for Hodge to delay his retirement and spend two seasons in Brisbane mentoring his emerging group.

And it also explains why Hodge made the Hall of Fame the moment he was eligible.

According to Hodge, his induction into the Hawks' Hall of Fame a few years back was a huge thrill, "but this is probably the next level. You look at the guys that are in there, you hold up them up on a pedestal. It's surreal and I'm still in a bit of shock."

Luke Hodge

Hawthorn (2002-17): 305 games, 193 goals
Brisbane Lions (2018-19): 41 games, 1 goal
Australia: 4 games
Premierships: 2008, 2013 (capt), 2014 (capt), 2015 (capt)
Best and fairest: 2005, 2010
All-Australian: 2005, 2008, 2010
Norm Smith Medal: 2008, 2014
Captain: 2011-16