"If there's a game to be won you can do it, back yourself, take them on," he says. "Use your pace, use your smarts, get around them and have your go - try to win matches when the game's there to be won.

"When the pressure's really on, a lot of it comes down to footy brains, footy smarts."

Accepting that pressure never has a sharper edge than in finals, Peter's middle son Shaun qualifies as a master at freeing himself from its perilous hold. Friday night will be the 30th final of his career; only Michael Tuck and Gordon Coventry have played more.

His brother, Peter junior, admits surprise not only that Shaun is still playing so well, but playing at all. After 13 seasons and 240 games with Port Adelaide, Peter Burgoyne left the game at 31 acutely aware of how hard it is to play, and the toll it takes.

A mate tried to get him to play a game or two with Southern Districts in Darwin last year, but even after six years away from football's rigours his body was having none of it. "Too many Ks in the legs, and one too many injuries. I'm done and dusted mate."

From afar he appreciates the work Andrew Russell and Hawthorn's conditioning staff put into his little brother, who will play on next season at 33 and, all being well, surge through the 300-game mark early in his 15th season. "I thought he would have been done at 31, 32, but the way they're playing him and looking after him, they manage Shaun perfectly."

Peter senior says Shaun has never been hard to guide, describing him as an organised person, a friendly and grounded man who's always been respectful and responsible. "He doesn't go out and yahoo. He's not your local party boy, he's a family man."

His family this week welcomed a fourth child, as Shaun's wife Amy gave birth to their second daughter, Nixie Blue. Peter has three boys and a girl, and youngest son Phil - who his father says was a "greased lightning" left-footer who could have been the best of them if not for injury - has two daughters and three sons.

Peter senior has a growing crop of little Burgoynes to school in the art of football smarts. "I always say it's in your genes, but the one who's the most dedicated and works the hardest will come through. We've always tried to make that the message."

Peter hails from Port Lincoln, where he played well enough to get a run with Port Adelaide in the SANFL. He met Gabriella while playing and winning premierships with St Mary's in Darwin. He says he was an "okay" midfielder who didn't favour his left or right side. He doesn't want to pump up his own tyres, but when pushed offers a comparison. "Like Sam Mitchell, but quicker. Twice as quick."

The year he spent with Port he was the only indigenous player at the club, and missed family, friends and home deeply. He works in the mines for Sodexo as an indigenous liaison project manager, is proud of the company's commitment to Aboriginal Australia, its reconciliation plan that sets a benchmark for other businesses to emulate.

He rates cultural awareness within AFL clubs as a huge advance in the game, and says Shaun is like his football club - straight down the line. "He's not a yes boy, Shaun. When he wants to say his point of view, he'll say it. He won't hide nothing - if it's telling the truth, he won't butter it up."

Peter junior calls his brother a leader, someone who speaks his mind. "He's the kind of bloke who will say something everyone's thinking but haven't got the balls to say. That's one of his big strengths."

Peter and Gabriella have a new grandchild to meet, so are coming to Melbourne next weekend regardless of what happens in Perth. Peter remembers Port's 2004 premiership featuring his two oldest sons as one of the proudest days of his life. He likes the idea of taking in another grand final with someone to cheer.

He returns to the theme of pressure, reckons the athletes who populate the game today "shut down like a computer when you throw a footy player at them". In Mitchell, Luke Hodge and his son he sees Hawthorn's statesmen, the leaders who don't waste their chances even under the September spotlight.

When he meets people in the mines, he introduces himself only as Peter, knowing that to add his surname changes the conversation. "That's the boys, it's their accolades, their history," he says.

The Burgoyne story isn't over yet.