HAWTHORN’S injury woes have been one of the talking points of the season, but one of the positives to have come from the setbacks has been the opportunity granted to Garry Moss.

Moss had 24 touches and kicked four goals against West Coast on Saturday to earn the round five nomination for the NAB AFL Rising Star.

His story is one of persistence and determination after he was delisted by the Hawks last year, only to work his way back into the side via the rookie list.

The 20-year-old says he will be forever grateful to the Hawks for giving him the chance to keep his career going.

“I had a meeting with Al Clarkson and (list manager) Chris Pelchen 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,” Moss 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 was rookie-listed by the Hawks and was promoted to the senior list as Max Bailey recovered from a knee reconstruction.

Moss had played one game for the Hawks in round 7 of 2007 against Fremantle, but had to wait until round 2 this season to play his second game, which came when Brad Sewell was a late withdrawal from the match against the Sydney Swans.

Moss said he always had faith in his own talent, but just needed the opportunity to showcase his wares.

“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,” he said.

“To have played OK in that game and get another opportunity was good. Playing a few games together has given me a bit of confidence.”

While he may have already exceeded his expectations for 2009, Moss’ goals haven’t changed, and he still wants to simply play consistent footy. He says that he was honoured to receive the nomination for the NAB AFL Rising Star, but feels he has little chance of winning the award at the end of the year.

“I’ve seen Daniel Rich play a bit in Perth; I’ve seen his last two WAFL grand finals. He is a pretty classy player and really hard at the footy. At the moment, I can’t see anyone else winning it apart from him.”