 He withdrew from the preliminary final against Collingwood due to groin soreness, and as a result of Geelong winning the preliminary final by a large margin and all players performing well, he could not force his selection back into the team for the grand final against St Kilda.Stokes later revealed that the decision to withdraw from the preliminary final was driven by "letting down his teammates" in the 2008 Grand Final loss by playing unfit, and stated that