But for former Demon Simon Buckley, the transition to the Collingwood guernsey has been easier than expected.
Buckley - who grew up following Melbourne - seemed destined for a long career in the red and blue after a more-than-promising 2008 season.
However, injury restricted the emerging runner to just one match in 2009; the first of the home-and-away season,
From there, he admits the rest of the season was a battle.
Knowing he was out-of-contract at season’s end, the 22-year-old played much of 2009 under duress and was never able to hit the lofty heights of his previous season, a year in which he had underlined his talent with consecutive matches of 30-plus possessions.
“It was a big call [to leave],” Buckley told collingwoodfc.com.au.
“I just thought it was going to be best for my footy and coming off an injury, I didn’t think that at the time Melbourne had the facilities that were going to be best for me."
But finding a club to negotiate a trade with proved difficult and, with no obvious suitors on the horizon, it was a matter of time before Melbourne moved to de-list him.
It was then a matter of Buckley working hard and following up all his options.
He started pre-season training with North Melbourne, and also held discussions with Carlton. Other clubs became interested closer to the NAB AFL draft but, by then, Buckley knew where he wanted to land.
And it helped that the club he saw as his best option had always taken an interest in his career.
“When I was at Melbourne, [Collingwood] kept in touch with my manager and were asking" ‘what’s the go?’ They’d been following my progress.
“They’d been looking at me for a while and then once I was de-listed, I met with Derek (Collingwood recruiting manager Derek Hine)".
While Hine was careful to point out that the discussions came without guarantees, things worked out for Buckley when he was picked up by the Pies with their round-six selection in the draft.
At 191cm and 90kg, Buckley offers the Magpies and coach Mick Malthouse something different to most running defender/midfield types, but he remains cautious about his chances of playing senior footy.
“I remember when I first got [to Collingwood], it was just so easy to pick out 22 players and I remember thinking to myself: ‘where am I going to break into this team?’,” he said.
Encouragement, though, came from the coach with Malthouse telling Buckley he could do worse than model his game on former Magpie Paul Licuria.
“He said, ‘I feel as there’s probably a spot for you there and once guys like that get in the team and play their role for the side week in, week out, they very rarely find themselves outside the side’", Buckley said.
"I’m definitely happy to play that sort of role, so I’ve been practising that the last couple of weeks.”
Buckley says he harbours no grudge towards the Demons and maintains the friendships he built with many at his former club.
But he is relishing a new environment and feels he is already feeling the benefits.
“It’s a bit of a change, coming to the Lexus Centre every morning instead of the Junction Oval,” he said.
“The body’s going really good, too. Obviously I played last week (against St Kilda) but when I first got to the club we weren’t too if I’d be ready by this time or not, so I’m actually three or four weeks ahead of schedule.
Buckley says his game against the Saints wasn’t his best but, given it was his first of the season and he knows he’s still new to a midfield role, there’s plenty of improvement to come.
Working with midfield coach Mark Neeld, and getting to run with some of the game’s best midfielders at training, will only quicken his education.
“Hopefully I can squeeze in there somewhere,” Buckley said of his round one prospects.
“Obviously they’ve been pretty successful [in the last couple of years] and they’ve got a lot of really good players, but Mick’s been urging me to take this role, so fingers crossed.”