Despair ... Jordan Lewis and Luke Hodge react and the grand final loss. Source: Alex Coppell / News Limited
Melbourne Storm captain Cameron Smith knows what it takes to fall down and climb back to the top.
After moving to Melbourne, Smith has become an avid fan of Hawthorn, last year's grand finalists.
And he had some advice on how to bounce back from the depths of despair.
Following last year's defeat to Sydney Swans in the grand final, the Hawks have endured a miserable pre-season, winning just one game, dealing with Lance Franklin's ongoing contract rumours and losing important rebounding defender Matthew Suckling to a knee injury.
However, Smith was confident the premiership favourites could bounce back.
"All the great teams do that, they welcome challenges, the lesser sides see them as a burden," he said on AFL 360 on Monday night.
"The great teams in sport look at challenges and think 'we can overcome this', all the outside factors are against them, people are writing them off because they've had injuries and went down in the grand final last year.
"They think they're gone and their confidence is shot but they've got a great coach and a great squad and I think they'll be up there again this year."
In 2010, Smith had the hardest year of his career as the Storm were stripped of two premierships and were unable to win points after the salary-cap rorting scandal.
He and the club have bounced back superbly as the Storm claimed the 2012 premiership.
Personally, Smith captained the Storm to NRL redemption, Queensland to a seventh-straight State of Origin success, Australia and the Storm's World Club Cup triumph.
He said the off-season was the hardest after grand final defeat - which he experienced in 2008 - but the Hawks were capable of winning the 2013 premiership.
"It's difficult, particularly in the off-season. You've got six to eight weeks where you're left to ponder the opportunity missed," he said.
"They came up against a good team last year - in the Swans - and they played extremely well in the final and deserved to win.
"I think they'll be hungry, they'll be extremely hungry.
"Alastair Clarkson will be pushing them pretty hard over the pre-season and even though some results haven't gone their way, I think they're going to be ready.
They've had a couple of big losses, namely (Matthew) Suckling and Whitecross who were great for them last year ... they've still got some big name players who rise for the occasion and I think they'll be okay."
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