WITH every premiership win comes the inevitable hard luck story of a player who just missed out on selection.

Last year the football world sympathised with Hawk ruckman Simon Taylor who played most of the year only to lose his spot to Brent Renouf at the end of the season.

But there was another youngster who could also consider himself unlucky at missing out on the Hawthorn victory.

Cameron Stokes played four of the last six games of the home and away season and was a late call-up for the qualifying final against the Western Bulldogs.

He was playing a solid if not spectacular game when he noticed some tightness in his hamstring.

After the adrenalin of the game wore off, the strain seemed more serious and Stokes had trouble moving.

He lost his spot in the side to Xavier Ellis and his 2008 season was over. Come grand final day, Ellis was Hawthorn’s highest possession winner and Stokes was watching on from the sidelines.

“I’d like to think I would have stayed in the side (if I wasn’t injured) but I’m not too sure,” Stokes told hawthornfc.com.au.

“I thought I might be a very slight chance of getting back but I couldn’t move too well.”

The 19-year-old did his best to hide his disappointment and as soon as the final siren rang to signal Hawthorn’s tenth premiership, he forgot about his hamstring injury and sprinted on to the ground to bask in the glory with his teammates.

“We just the feeling that we’re all a team and we’re all a part of it. The blokes who were out there won it but we were happy to be a part of it as a club,” he said.

“It was great to be out there. Mark Williams might’ve been the first bloke I went out to. Just to be out on the ground on a grand final day and sharing the win with all the boys was such a great feeling.”

After nine matches in his debut season, Stokes seemed a strong chance to be permanently elevated to the senior list.

The Hawks decided to retain him on the rookie list but with no veterans on the list, he is free to play at AFL level as a nominated rookie.

Stokes said he was not disappointed at missing out on elevation.

“The club was great about it. They ran me through everything and I understood why they did it ... I wasn’t frustrated. There were no hard feelings at all.”

After moving from Darwin at the end of 2007, Stokes said he had no troubles adjusting to the Melbourne lifestyle especially with the help of fellow Northern Territorian Cyril Rioli.

“It was good having him there. I didn’t really miss Darwin too much, just my family but we got through it pretty well,” Stokes said.

“We played a bit of footy together before and it was good to have him here to have someone in the same boat. We spend a bit of time together and he’s probably one of my closer friends at the club.”

Stokes, who lives in Glen Waverley with a host family that has also taken in teammates Shane Savage and Carl Peterson, said that he is more than comfortable in his surroundings as he approaches his second year in the AFL.

“Now that it’s the second year I know a lot of the guys. It’s great that now I’ve been at the club a while I’ve settled in and I can train and play footy comfortably.”