WHEN Brett Ratten arrived at Hawthorn, he held a unique position.

The Hawks had only weeks before been beaten in the 2012 Grand Final by the Swans and the new assistant coach was somewhat removed from the emotion of it all.

Unlike his new colleagues – namely Senior Coach Alastair Clarkson and full-time assistant coaches Luke Beveridge, Brendon Bolton and Adam Simpson, Ratten could see the affect it had had from a different perspective.

When the players returned for pre-season late that year in preparation for season 2013, Ratten was just weeks into his new role and was learning about his new players and colleagues.

He was unique in the way that he wasn’t caught up in the disappointment of the 2012 decider and instead able to read the mood of the playing group.

Immediately, as the players returned to prepare for its 2013 assault, he could see the hunger and desire burning within them.

“It didn’t take me long to see how driven some of the individuals were,” he told hawthornfc.com.au

“Through my own experience as a player I could see the hurt and thought ‘we have to bounce back here but knowing we’re not going to get the opportunity until the end of the season.’”

Indeed, the players and coaches at Hawthorn finally got their chance after a thrilling and emotional victory over Geelong in the Preliminary Final.

The Hawks had lost just three matches for the year and went into the Grand Final as favourites but as they learnt last year, none of that means anything once the ball in bounced.

It was a long journey to finally get the chance at redemption.

“There is a lot of hard work and that can be mentally tough during a journey as well so to see what the players and how they just stuck to the process was something special,” Ratten said.

But the experience of winning a premiership in his first year at the Club was different for Ratten.

He had achieved premiership success as a player at Carlton but to win the flag as part of a coaching group was different.

“I’ve never been involved in a Grand Final as a coach so it was just a great experience,” he said.

“Through the journey I got to see the players and how desperate they were to win the premiership and atone for what happened the year before.

“To see those aspirations at the start of the year and how hard they worked was very fulfilling for me to look back on that last day and think, ‘well done you blokes, you pushed and squeezed everything out of yourselves to get the result.’

“To think in that journey and how many games and how close it got in situations like the prelim but they just kept coming and fighting to hold that cup on the last day was pretty special.”

What the Hawks couldn’t predict though was that almost every player on the list would leave the Ricoh Centre for the off-season with a premiership medal.

In 2013, Hawthorn achieved the rare feat of a VFL and AFL premiership double, with its VFL affiliate Box Hill defeating the Cats in the Grand Final.

It would have been a trifecta too had the Development side not been beaten by Williamstown by a point.

Ratten counts himself lucky to be part of Hawthorn’s achievements in 2013 in just his first year but like his colleagues is looking forward to the challenge of living up to the same standards next year.

“It has been a great experience so far,” he said of his time at the Hawks.

“To think that almost everyone that played this year has walked out of here with a medallion, that’s just a fantastic year and it just shows what the Club is doing and the people that have been here for five or six years, they’ve created this and I’ve just been lucky to fall into it.

“I’ve seen a lot of smiling faces and a lot of joy this year but that might not happen next year, everyone is fully aware of that but the challenge is how can we keep and maintain that and that’s what I’m looking forward to.

“I know the hard work for all of us will be to try and maintain what we set as an organisation this year.”