HAWTHORN has re-signed dual premiership defender Ben Stratton for an extra three seasons, tying him to the club until the end of 2019.

The 26-year-old has developed into a vital member of the team's defence and showed his importance with a superb finals series in 2014 after battling injuries all season.

He told the club website he had no hesitation in extending his contract.

"It was a pretty good feeling when the club came to me and sort of said, 'Do you want to look at extending your contract?," Stratton said.

"I was pretty happy to add another three years on and pretty much I’ll be here for almost 10 years now.

"It’s gone pretty quick, and I was rapt to extend the deal."

Stratton has kicked just one goal in his 109 games, and neither he nor fellow defender Josh Gibson, who has not kicked a goal in a Hawthorn jumper, has managed a major since 2011.

The underrated Stratton is also yet to poll a Brownlow vote but he has two premiership medals in his possession. 

Hawthorn list manager Graham Wright said re-signing Stratton was another step forward for the club and that the defender was not underrated internally.

"He plays on all types of forwards – he can play tall or small and he's had a fantastic year playing as a negating defender," Wright said.

"He's played on the likes of Port Adelaide's Chad Wingard, Adelaide's Eddie Betts and Collingwood's Jamie Elliott, but is versatile enough to also play on the tall forwards if he needs to.

"He's part of our emerging leaders group and we expect he will step up for us over the next couple of years."