NOT EVEN a Norm Smith Medal could budge Luke Hodge's 'team first' philosophy after Hawthorn's dramatic grand final win over the Cats.

Playing in his customary defensive general role Hodge, 24, gathered 26 possessions, took nine marks and kicked a goal to be adjudged best afield in the 26-point triumph, but he was loathe to take any individual praise for his game-changing display.

"I'm just as happy getting the [premiership] medal with the rest of the boys because it was a team effort," Hodge said.

"For the other blokes that just missed out … the blokes from last year and the blokes that we trained with and played with this year – it's just as much theirs as ours. It was a super team effort by all the guys and we're just all rapt.

"I more dreamed of kicking the winning goal on grand final day [than winning the Norm Smith medal], but just getting the medal with the rest of the boys was something that four years ago when Clarko and Andrew Russell and the coaches all came in, we sat down and set a plan for.

"The maturity of the whole group over the last 18 months has been sensational. It's skipped forward a lot faster than I actually thought it was going to, but the maturity that they've showed not just today but over past finals and this year has been superb."

Despite his protestations it was a super effort from Hodge who looked to be in danger of missing out all together when a crunching hit to the ribs against St Kilda the previous weekend had him spitting up blood.

"I was fine, once the game was finished I just spoke to the doctors and there were no problems," he said, playing down the incident.

"The doc tried to explain it, but I didn't really understand half the words he was saying. I think it was just the hit which caused the blood, but from [the moment] I came back on there were no problems. From Monday we knew that straight away so there were problems at all."

Hodge appeared to be fighting a lone battle down back when the Cats threatened to take the game away from them in the second quarter, but once again he gave credit elsewhere for the Hawks' resurgence.

"There was a lot of pressure in the midfield that made the Cats' skills drop a little bit compared to what they normally are during the year," he said.

"When Croady went off, Browny came back and stood [Mooney], and Stephen Gilham and Brent Guerra – he's played over 150 games now – they stood up really well.

"Then we've got Rick Ladson and Grant Birchall running off as well so, I think it wasn't just one or two blokes it was the whole back six that stuck together as we have all year."

It was impossible to get even the slightest hint of individual pride in his performance out of Hodge, so coach Alastair Clarkson was asked for his thoughts on the gritty display. But he wasn't about to stray from the theme.  

"You probably know that I'm not going to give too much away in terms of individualism," Clarkson said.

"We obviously acknowledge Hodgey and the role that he plays in our side. But it was no less important than Brent Guerra trying to keep Steve Johnson, who's a match winner for the Cats, quiet. And the big task that Robbie Campbell and Brent Renouf had in the ruck against Ottens and Blake.

"It's always the way that we try and handle things – we share the workload right across the group."

2008 Norm Smith Medal voting:

Luke Hodge 15
Gary Ablett 11
Brad Sewell 6
Joel Selwood 2
Shane Crawford 1
Stuart Dew 1