HAWTHORN defender Ben Stratton had extra reason to hope his team kept on winning as the 2011 season rolled towards September.

With every win his teammates conjured while he was on the sidelines nursing a knee injury, the young Hawk's chances of re-joining them on field before year's end grew.

Initially told his season was finished after rupturing his posterior cruciate ligament against Richmond in round three, Stratton saw a glimmer of hope as his recovery accelerated and the club pressed towards the top four.

"When I first did it the surgeon said, 'You won't play again this year'," Stratton told hawthornfc.com.au from the Hawks' Australia Post community camp in Tasmania on Wednesday.

"But as rehab went along, my physio started saying that I might have a sniff, especially if we went deep into September.

"So the better the team went, the more chance I'd have.

"In the latter half of the year when we were winning most of our games, I sort of thought that if the rehab keeps tracking along the way it is, I'm a chance to play."

And play he did.

After blowing out some cobwebs with the Box Hill Hawks reserves, Stratton was given a chance to press his finals claims against Gold Coast in round 24.

That challenge, the 2010 NAB Rising Star nominee said, was more mental than physical.

"It probably wasn't the fitness, it was just my confidence in my knee," he said.

"Structurally it was 100 per cent; there was no chance of it going again.

"In the reserves game, it was my first game back, so I was a bit tentative there.

"But I got a fair bit of confidence out of the Gold Coast game because everything went well there and my knee felt fine."

With eight rested stars returning to the line-up for the following week's first final against Geelong, Stratton made way.

But when the Cats' key forwards turned on a big performance and helped consign Hawthorn to a knockout final against the Sydney Swans, coach Alastair Clarkson decided that defensive reinforcement was needed.

An unlikely comeback was complete.

What happened next is well known: with Stratton in the team and performing well, the Hawks beat the Swans, but then suffered a devastating three-point preliminary final loss to Collingwood.

The bitter ending is something Stratton has now stopped thinking about. His focus is on building towards the rematch with the Magpies in round one.

"At the time it [the preliminary final loss] was pretty heartbreaking, but obviously having them round one is a good challenge for us to see where the group's at.

"We're really looking forward to it."

Despite tallying only 27 games in his impressive young career so far, Stratton also has his sights on developing his leadership.

"[This season] I want to play consistent footy and be a leader down in the backline," he said.

"I think if the older guys see the younger guys showing some leadership, it gets them up as well.

"We've got a good bunch of young guys that can all become leaders in the future of the footy club."

Together with a group of eight other teammates, Stratton spent the opening days of the Hawks' community camp in Burnie.

He said it had been rewarding to see the smiles on fans' faces during a community visit that included sack races and a game of cricket.

"There are a lot of number 23 and 33 Hawthorn jumpers floating around, and the kids seemed to be right into it, and even the parents seemed to be loving it," Stratton said.