Stratton humbled to join greats
Ben Stratton says Hawthorn gained enormous motivation from a dinner with the club's 1988-89 premiership players in July which set the scene for their stunning grand final win over Sydney.
The Hawks celebrated the 25th anniversary of their first back-to-back premierships at Crown Casino. Nine of Hawthorn's 22-man Team of the Century played in that group and the current Hawks got to mix with them during a big night for the club.
Stratton was humbled to think that the 2013-14 team was now in the same group.
"It is special to think that after '88 and '89 we are only the second Hawthorn team to go back-to-back," Stratton said.
"Jason Dunstall and those boys are always around the club. I saw him after the game and he was rapt.
"It was pretty special to hear what it meant to those boys. We heard an insight into what they went through that year and got a little bit of inspiration from it.
"I think of guys like Dunstall, Brereton and Langford and it's hard to think that I might be mentioned in the same sentence."
Only Adelaide in 1997-98 and Brisbane from 2001 to 2003 have won consecutive premierships since Hawthorn's success.
Hawthorn's 1988 team won by 96 points, so they had plenty of time to enjoy their win while the game was still being played.
But they won the 1989 grand final by just six points against a Gary Ablett-inspired Geelong.
The Hawks' 63-point win over Sydney was the second-largest winning margin in a grand final in the past 20 years.
Geelong's 119-point demolition of Port Adelaide in 2007 remains the biggest.
Stratton refused to accept the Swans couldn't win until late in the final quarter because he was mindful of Port Adelaide's final-quarter fight-back during the preliminary final.
But once the clock ticked into time-on, Stratton soaked up the atmosphere.
"It's a feeling you can't describe without being out there. I was looking at Suckers and Spangher, a few of the other boys who didn't play last year to see the looks on their faces," Stratton said.
"I knew the siren was going to go and I started looking for who I was going to run towards and give the biggest hug ever."
