WHEN the Dream Team side — not the American basketball team but the collection of footballers who don't play for Victoria and never dreamt of playing in a side together — gathered for the first time to be measured for their suits, two players gravitated to one another.

Matthew Stokes and Leon Davis, forward pockets both, sought each other out to quietly chuckle at what on earth they were doing there. Neither felt they truly belonged in such exalted company.

"I would never have thought myself to be in this squad and never would have thought I was anywhere near any of these guys and, to be honest, I am probably not," Stokes said. "But it is great recognition and something I was shocked when I first heard.

"With my role at the Geelong footy club I didn't think people outside the footy club gave me that much recognition so to be named in the squad was a surprise … We have got nine All-Australians at Geelong so it is pretty hard to think you are in the top players there, so this is a nice recognition to say, 'You belong in the AFL and you are a quality player.' "

While Stokes announced his place among peers in the finals and, in particular, his three goals against Collingwood in the preliminary final, it was Davis' stats-less 2002 grand final that left a mark on him in the mind of some football followers. That grand final came after an impressive season in 2002 but sporadic early form that had some commentators wondering whether he had more to his game than party tricks.

Davis' steadily improved form of the past five years has made sceptics revisit their judgements. Gaining respect is one thing, gaining broader acclamation is another.

"It definitely came as a surprise, looking around at some of the other players and I look at them in awe, I suppose, and to be playing a match with them and be in the same team and recognised is an honour and something I didn't see coming at all," Davis said.

"I am not really too bothered about those people and what they have said. I have only worried about what Mick and my coaches think and what my teammates think, but for me it is a great honour to be picked in this side and something I will hold dearly for the rest of my life."

He saw a parallel with Stokes in having to pinch himself at the recognition.

"When I rocked up to the suit fittings where we first had to meet, we both met together and drifted off into the corner the both of us and had a bit of a laugh about it," he said.

"But, yeah, he is in the same boat as myself feeling like it came as a surprise because you look at Pav and big Buddy and Andrew McLeod, who I look up to and have the utmost respect for, and these other players on the team I just love to watch playing, so to be playing with them is a huge honour."