WHILE most of WA's focus in Saturday’s AFL grand final will be on Fremantle, a Dockers loss will see a Dunsborough footballer become a premiership player.
Hawthorn defender Ben Stratton will be playing in his second straight grand final, and the Dunsborough product and former Augusta-Margaret River Hawks player has been instrumental in the Hawks push towards success in 2013.
After suffering a serious knee injury in 2011, Stratton has not missed a game for the Hawks in the past two seasons, becoming an ‘unsung hero’ for the club.
Speaking to the Mail after Hawthorn’s thrilling preliminary final win over Geelong, Stratton said the experience of playing in last year’s decider should help during the lead-up.
“It’ll be pretty similar to last year, but it should help the young blokes with us having been through it before,” he said.
“A fair bit happens during the week, so we’ll be taking that in, and it’ll be good to have the family around as well.”
Stratton’s family were in all Melbourne for Friday night’s preliminary final, with his parents travelling over for a few weeks.
His sister now lives with him in Melbourne, and there could be more than a hint of family rivalry this weekend.
“I was a West Coast supporter growing up and so was my dad, but my mum and sister are Freo so there’s a bit of rivalry there,” he said.
Stratton described Fremantle as a “pretty hard, contested side” and welcomed the challenge of playing a club from his home state on the biggest stage of all.
After recovering from the knee injury which saw him miss most of 2011, he has now played 52 consecutive games to take his career tally to 76.
Stratton’s key position defensive role rarely gets accolades, having not polled a single Brownlow Medal vote in his career, but he is one of only three Hawks to have played every game this year, and was the club’s nomination for the AFL Players Association’s most courageous award.
It was also enough to secure him a contract extension during the year.
He said he felt like he was now an established player in the dominant Hawthorn side.
“I think so, I’ve concentrated on staying fit and having a consistent couple of years, and it’s pleasing to get some consistency,” he said.
“Coming off the knee I wasn’t too sure how the body would hold up.”
The keen surfer has also booked in some time in his hometown during the off-season break.
“I’m heading overseas for a month to get some waves, and then coming down south to get some waves as well,” he said.
“I haven’t had a surf for a while, and it’ll be good to catch up with some friends.”
