MATHEW Stokes is this year's hard luck story after Geelong named an unchanged line-up for the 2009 Toyota AFL Grand Final.

Veteran Max Hudghton can also consider himself unlucky after failing to make St Kilda's 22 or even its emergency list.

Ross Lyon did make one change to the side that squeezed past the Western Bulldogs in their epic preliminary final encounter with Sean Dempster earning a recall at the expense of Robert Eddy.

It's a case of poor timing for Stokes, 24, who has played 19 games for the Cats this season, including the qualifying final against the Bulldogs. He pulled out of last week's preliminary final side with groin soreness.

Coach Mark Thompson praised the small forward for his team-first attitude in declaring himself less than 100 per cent fit ahead of the crucial match and rated him as the only likely change to the side that defeated Collingwood by 73 points.

"Stokesy is probably the one that deserves [a recall]," Thompson said following the win over Collingwood.

"We think he's done the really selfless thing for the team and if he is right to play then he probably deserves to get a game, so there is one issue there.

"Ryan Gamble, Simon Hogan and [Shane] Mumford have all made huge contributions during the year, but unless someone goes down ill or has back spasms it will probably be pretty unlikely they will play."

Stokes took a similar injury into last year's grand final and has since spoken of his disappointment at his decision given the limited impact he was able to have in the loss to Hawthorn.

He is an emergency with Shane Mumford and Simon Hogan.

Mark Blake and David Wojcinski have both experienced similar heartache to Stokes having missed out on the respective 2007 and 2008 grand final teams, but they have retained their spots this time around.

Dempster, who crossed from the Sydney Swans at the end of 2007, has played eight games this year after recovering from a knee reconstruction required after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in round 22, 2008.

He was dropped following the round 22 win over Melbourne, but has done enough to get the nod ahead of Eddy.

Eddy, rookie-listed by the Saints at the end of 2006, earned a spot on the senior list this year and has played 10 games including both of the club's finals.

Adding to his despair is the fact he has also missed out on the standby list with those positions going to David Armitage, Jarryn Geary and James Gwilt.

This season, Hudghton, 33, was overtaken by former Hawk Zac Dawson as first-choice full-back and has managed just seven games with the last of those being round 20's narrow loss to Essendon.