LAST October, Garry Moss was no longer an AFL player. Now, he is officially one of the rising stars of the league.

Moss was delisted by Hawthorn last year after two injury-riddled seasons but still had hopes of making it as a Hawthorn player after a meeting with coach Alastair Clarkson and list manager Chris Pelchen.

"I had a meeting with them at the end of the season and they said they were going to delist me but they wanted me to train on. They said there was a good chance they'd re-rookie me but I just had to get my body right and have a good pre-season and see how things go," Moss said.

As it happened, Moss did get another chance via the rookie list and admits if the Hawks hadn't shown that faith, his AFL career would have been finished with just one senior game, against Fremantle in round seven, 2007.

"It was just the Hawks. It was a last-gasp effort. No one else was really interested so I was lucky the Hawks threw me another lifeline. It's worked out really well," he said.

 "You can never take anything for granted. It wasn't definitely going to happen. I still needed to work hard and I had a very good pre-season by my standards. I haven't had a good pre-season since I got to the club. I did 70-80 per cent of the pre-season which was really good to experience."

Moss started the season as one of nine rookies on Hawthorn's list and knew he was a long way back in the calculations. That belief was confirmed when Cameron Stokes and Matthew Suckling were named as the club's nominated rookies.

"At that stage I thought I wasn't much of a chance of playing early in the season. We had a lot of injuries early on and it has really worked out like a dream for me. It hasn't been the best for the side but personally everything has been really good," he said.

After an impressive pre-season, Moss was promoted to the senior list in place of the injured Max Bailey.

Come round two, injury had ravaged the Hawks and Moss's long-awaited second AFL appearance came when Brad Sewell was a late withdrawal from the game against the Sydney Swans.

He said that despite his injury battles over the past two seasons and his delisting last year, he never lost his self-belief.

"I always believed in myself that I had the ability. I guess you don't really know until you play at the level. Being a late call-up in the Sydney game there wasn't really much pressure. To have played okay in that game and get another opportunity was good. Playing a few games together has given me a bit of confidence," he said.

That confidence saw him win the NAB AFL Rising Star nomination for his four-goal effort against West Coast. Despite winning the nomination, he says his goals for 2009 have not changed.

"The thing is I've still got to play consistent footy to stay in the side. There are so many good players who have got to come back. I'm treating each week like it's my last so I've got to keep playing really well and see where it takes me. If I end up getting taken out of the side while still playing good footy, I can't be filthy on myself."