Clinton Young made his first appearance in Collingwood colours at the Westpac Centre on Friday.

The Hawthorn premiership player became a Magpie via his free agency status which saw him agree to a three-year deal.

Young was wearing a moon boot on his lethal left foot but the Magpies say it won't restrict him from completing a strong pre-season.

Watch Clinton Young take questions from the media alongside Director of Football Geoff Walsh on CTV in the video above.

The foot, operated on last Tuesday, will likely keep Young from running until Christmas and full training until January.  

But, after a break over the next few weeks, he'll embark on a cross training program that will allow him to attend the Pies' Utah altitude camp in early December.

"It was just a minor thing on my foot," Young said on Friday, after he arrived at the Westpac Centre.

"I'll be going (to Utah). That'll be at the start of December so it will be a great way to meet all the guys and be with them for a few weeks over there."

Sitting around at home with his foot up added to the Young's stress over the past week and a bit.

He had an offer on the table from Hawthorn, Port Adelaide had a dip and he knew the Magpies were keen after he toured their facilities and met with the coaches.

He waited until the evening of the second last day of the Gillette AFL Free Agency period to tell his manager he wanted to become a Pie - and as an unrestricted free agent, was able to do that without the Hawks matching the offer.

"For several weeks there were lots of negotiations going on," he said.

"I was speaking to a few clubs, so it was a stressful time but it's great that it's all over and done with now.

"There were a lot of things to consider. Certainly there wasn't one thing that made it easy but for many reasons it was a tough decision.

"There's a lot of great people at Hawthorn. I spent eight years there, I have many friends so it's very tough moving away from that.

"For me going forward, this is the best decision and I'm looking forward to playing at Collingwood."

Collingwood's director of football Geoff Walsh said there were many reasons why the Pies targeted Young as their second free agent after acquiring West Coast's Quinten Lynch earlier this month. 

"He runs and carries the ball, he kicks it very well," Walsh said.

"He's a left footer, we don't have a helluva lot of left footers … [so] that's a bit of a plus.

"On transitions, he's probably an 80-90m player, he carries it and kicks it really well."

Young doesn't know if his decision would have been different had the Hawks won the recent Grand Final against the Sydney Swans, only saying it would have been "interesting" had the result been reversed.

He said the hurt from the lost premiership would not be any less for him despite having moved on from the club. 

"That day was pretty disappointing for it to be my last game at Hawthorn," he said.

"The Grand Final loss will stay with the players I played with for a long time.

"It's extra motivation for me going forward to hopefully get back on that day and win because it's a very hard thing to go through."