THE WHEEL has turned full circle for Cameron Bruce, the former Demon dynamo who battled his way into the Hawthorn line-up for the first time in 2012 on Saturday night.

Bruce played 224 games with Melbourne, the early portion as a run-with specialist who could hurt you the other way with his penetrating kicking and eye for a goal.

Eventually Bruce got so good at his job that he became the hunted.

When he transferred to Hawthorn, his likely role appeared to be as either a midfielder or rebounding defender. However, after just nine games in his first season he struggled to get a spot in a team nominated as premiership favourite by many pundits.

His return on Saturday came after defender Grant Birchall withdrew with injury, and his task was no easy one - to stop Eagles rebounding gun Shannon Hurn.

"You can see that he sets up so much of their play from the back half and is their designated kicker and can kick it 70m. He is a 100m player, he runs 30m with it and kicks it 70m, so the idea was just to not let him get the ball," Bruce said.

"I think I did that pretty well, it was just a matter of hurting him the other way."

Bruce was modest in his assessment. He kept Hurn to just seven touches while gathering eight himself.

"I sort of made a name for myself doing run-with roles early on, then you start to win a bit of the ball and you get tagged yourself," Bruce said.

"I probably don't have the tools in the kit bag that I used to have, so I'm going back to basics and doing a role for the team.

"Lewie (Jordan Lewis) has been probably previously been in that role but he is such a good ball winner and good user of the ball that it is a bit like robbing Peter to pay Paul with the way you'd limit his influence.

"I'm happy to do it. If there's a role for me to play I'll be putting my hand up.

"I know where I'm at and it's just a matter of playing well and earning a spot. It's not going to be given to me, we've got a club with such a deep list and so much talent, I've got to be playing well to get a spot."