WHEN HAWTHORN midfielder Xavier Ellis got injured in the final intra-club practice game before the season, he received some sage advice from coach Alastair Clarkson.
It is better to play the last five games of the season than to play the first five.
Ellis, who only managed eight games in 2011 because of injury, was reminded of that once again after wrenching his knee in the dying moments of a VFL game for Box Hill against Williamstown in the middle of the season.
He finally returned for Hawthorn in round 20 against Port Adelaide at Aurora Stadium and has played five of Hawthorn's six games since.
But he faces an anxious week before learning whether he goes one better than Clarkson's forecast and makes it to six games in 2012.
One Hawthorn player will be required to make way for skipper Luke Hodge, who was a late withdrawal from the preliminary final because of illness. And defender Brent Guerra might yet return from a hamstring tear suffered during the last home and away match for the year.
"'Goo' is a really good player and hopefully he gets up," Ellis said on Sunday morning at the Ricoh Centre at Waverley after Hawthorn's recovery session.
Ellis played well against Collingwood in the qualifying final, but his return against Adelaide on Saturday night was more a more modest seven touches, although his role was also to negate rebounding Adelaide defender Brent Reilly.
And it would hardly be a Hawthorn match without him limping from the ground at the end, although Ellis said it was only cramp.
"It'd been hard and a little bit tedious turning up to rehab all the time," Ellis said of his difficult year. "But there's always that golden light at the end which makes it worthwhile."
Ellis might feel encouraged that the Hawks were quick to make him available at a media session on Sunday morning. The other players who presented - Lance Franklin, Cyril Rioli, Grant Birchall, Shaun Burgoyne and Clinton Young appear certain starters in the Grand Final.
However Ellis, along with Tom Murphy, Shane Savage and Paul Puopolo would seem to the quartet from which any changes might be made, but 2012 Grand Final week is young and there is lots of recovery, training and strategy sessions to come.
What works in Ellis' favour is that he played a slashing game in the 2008 flag decider, with 28 disposals, 14 marks and a goal. Rarely on a big stage does he play a bad one for Hawthorn.
"I was 20 at the time, I didn't really take on board what we had done," Ellis said, echoing the view of a few Hawks who spoke on Sunday. Young and audacious they were back then, but more mindful now of the work that goes into winning a premiership.
"It's a big game. We have nothing to lose and that's the attitude we took in 2008."
You can follow AFL Media senior writer Ashley Browne on Twitter @afl_hashbrowne
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