ONE DAY a week Jack Trengove pulls the slacks and business shirt out of his wardrobe and helps to advise potential clients on how they should organise their financial affairs for the future.
Not one to sit on his hands, the experience has taught the injured Melbourne midfielder to think about what lies ahead of him when his own football career comes to a close.
"I'm big on keeping my mind busy," he says. "I'm trying to keep a lot of other things going on in my life to make sure I'm not sitting on the couch feeling sorry for myself."
While he continues his lengthy rehabilitation from a serious foot injury, the one day a week of work experience at financial planning firm Rising Tide, in Docklands, has allowed him to forget how frustrating the last two years have been.
Trengove, 23, has also ramped up the amount of subjects he completes each semester in his business/law degree at Monash University.
After such a promising beginning for the No.2 selection in the 2009 NAB AFL Draft, Trengove's career has been stalled by multiple surgeries – in April last year and then in October – to repair breaks in the navicular bone of his left foot.
Having already ruled out a return in 2015, Trengove – who has not played since round two, 2014 – is hoping to be ready for the start of pre-season and add to his 81 career games next year.
The Demons are pleased with Trengove's progress, but he still remains up to two months away from getting back into running.
"It's no fun watching," Melbourne's former co-captain says.
"I can't wait to get out and start running again because that's when you feel like you're taking big steps."
Trengove – who recently re-signed with the Demons until the end of 2016 – has not allowed himself to lose focus.
"I'm never one to dwell on it and I've always tried to look at the positives out of everything," he says. "You've got to play the cards that you're dealt as best you can."
Although unable to play against Port Adelaide in Alice Springs last week, Trengove and Christian Petracca, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in February, joined their teammates for last week's trip to Alice Springs.
The pair continued their rehab under the watchful eye of strength and conditioning coach Dave Misson but they were also given time out to visit a remote indigenous community called Hermannsburg – a one-and-a-half hour drive from Alice Springs.
The purpose of their trip was to support the club's commitment, in consultation with Melbourne University, to eradicating Trachoma – an infectious eye disease commonly found in Australia's indigenous communities.
But it was also a chance for Trengove and Petracca to take the footballs out and play kick-to-kick with the Aboriginal children of the community.
AFL.com.au had the chance to follow the players on their journey out to Hermannsburg where kids of all ages flocked to the dusty-red oval, in the middle of central Australia.
The beaming smiles on the kids' faces showed just how much they cherished the occasion, while Trengove could not help but get caught up in the whole experience.
"It doesn't matter where you're from, footy brings everyone together," Trengove says.
"You couldn't get them off the ground – they could have been there all night."
Although study and working part time are what drives him to be ready for the future, Trengove's focus is on the present and ensuring he returns to the playing field in peak condition.
"I feel like I've got the skills and attributes to get back to being the player that I was, it's just a matter of getting everything else right," he says.
