A lot has been made of the injury epidemic at the Gold Coast SUNS in 2015, with a whopping 37 players used in a season that is just eight rounds old.

On Saturday against Hawthorn, ruckman Keegan Brooksby will become the 38th added to the list and fourth mature-aged rookie to taste senior action, following Adam Saad, Josh Glenn and Andrew Raines.

Despite a queue stretching out the door of the SUNS’ medical room, Brooksby has forced his way into the senior side on form with a series of excellent performances at NEAFL level.

Speaking to SUNS TV on Thursday afternoon, Brooksby revealed coach Rodney Eade called him earlier in the week to deliver the news of his selection.

“Tuesday, got home from training in the afternoon and had a call from Rocket and he just basically let me know that I’d be in,” he said.

“He kept it pretty short on Tuesday but that was all the news I was listening to so after that I was just pretty happy.”

The South Australian had 14 disposals, six marks, five tackles, four inside 50s and booted three goals against the UWS Giants last Saturday. Two weeks prior, Brooksby tallied 27 disposals, seven marks, 41 hitouts and 11 clearances against the Southport Sharks in a best-on-ground performance.

It’s been a unique journey to the big time for Brooksby, who only started playing football at age 18 for South Adelaide after a promising junior basketball career. His father, Phil, played 278 games for the Panthers and the younger Brooksby credits the influence he’s had on his career.

“I played at South Adelaide for 70-odd games, which is where my dad played as well. He played 280 games there so I suppose he’s been a pretty big influence in terms of football,” Brooksby said.

“A lot of the coaches I’ve had along the way as well shaped and developed the person that I’ve become.”

AFL debuts are daunting enough at the best of times, but taking on a hungry reigning premier Hawthorn at an Aurora Stadium fortress with an undermanned line-up is about as tough as they come.

Despite the challenge, Brooksby echoed the message of his coach that the primary objective for the SUNS was focusing on elements they could control including effort and structures.

“I suppose Rocket’s pushed the message that we can only control what we control,” he said.

“So if we stick to that and work hard and stick to our structures and worry about what we’ve got to do then we’ll put ourselves in a good position and from there it’s just basically up to us.”