A LOT has been asked of Brent Renouf this season, but the 22-year-old ruckman has thrived on the responsibility of carrying the lion's share of Hawthorn's ruck load.

With just 23 matches to his name, Renouf became one of the most important players at the club when injuries decimated its big man division before a ball had been bounced in anger.

Renouf carried the ruck early in the season and has gone from strength to strength since Wayde Skipper recovered from injury to come into the side and lend a hand.

"My confidence has definitely grown this year and I feel like I can contribute more in games," Renouf says of his breakout season.

"It was obviously a bit daunting at the start knowing that if I went down, there was no one left pretty much. That did sort of run through my head, but once you get out there your instincts kick in and you just play footy.

"It's been really good for me. It's given me the confidence to really take the game on and try to have a bigger impact when I am on the ground.

"Being thrown in the deep like that I had to just get out there and hold down the ruck spot. My confidence has grown and there's trust among the players that comes with that as well.

"The more games you play, the more the players around you trust you."

But while Renouf appeared to be fighting a lonely battle against the odds early in the year, he sees it a bit differently.

"From the outside looking in, it would have looked like I was one-out, but that's not how I felt," he says.

"I had all the support in the world from the team and definitely from the ruck group. We're very close and to be able to help each other out along the way has been good.

"I had big Damian Monkhorst there by my side to keep my spirits up and, even though they were injured, all the other ruck guys were great. Simon Taylor, Max Bailey, Wayde Skipper, Luke Lowden and Sam Grimley were all there to help out where they could.

"Even on game days the guys would sometimes come down to the rooms and give me a few pointers on what they've seen happening in the game and what I might be able to do to beat my opponent."

Even so, Renouf could appreciate Alastair Clarkson's misgivings when the coach saw his only available ruckman hobbling towards him on the bench during the round one clash against Melbourne.

"I copped a pretty fair corkie in my hip," he recalls.

"At half time Clarko just said, 'Give me what you can'. I was struggling a bit in the second half, but I held on for as long as I could and we got the win which was great.

"It was all good in the end, but I can see why Clarko might have been a bit worried when I came off. We had Hodgey (Luke Hodge) in the ruck for about a five-minute period there so he was our next option."

A young ruckman wouldn't usually be asked to play such a physically-demanding role, but late in the season Renouf has absolute confidence his body will allow him to push hard to the end.

"It was a pretty fair workload at the start of the season, but the body's holding together pretty well," he says.

"I knew it was going to be pretty hard and in the first few rounds I was blowing up towards the end of games. But I slowly built up my match fitness and then Skip came in to give me a bit of a chop out.

"I've really enjoyed this year. It's been good for my development and it's been good to get my game time up. I really feel like I belong at the level now which allows me to really get out there and give it my best with the boys."