MOST footballers dream of playing in front of 100,000 eager fans at the MCG on Grand Final day.

Hawks forward Tim Boyle not only shares that dream, but he also dreams of one day brandishing his guitar at the centre the mighty ‘G’, on the biggest day in the AFL calendar.

The 23-year-old, a self professed “veteran” considering the Hawks’ young playing list, is a keen musician who writes and records his own material.

His sound is a mixture between blues, roots and old school pop and he cites Ben Harper and Harry Manx as his main influences. However he insists that his football experiences never provide song writing material.

“I think I’ve cordoned off the sections of my brain, I don’t allow them to cross over too much,” he said.

“It’s just part of my life and the way that I view things just comes back out through the music… my songs aren’t political or issue based. They’re more interpretations of things that are happening in every day life. Sometimes relationships, it’s usually emotive stuff.”

Boyle admits that combining a successful football career and his passion for music isn’t an easy task.

“That’s what I’ve struggled with for a few years. I’ve had to balance the two different areas of my life.

"But probably in the last 12 months, I’ve really felt that I had to sacrifice some of the other things I was doing and just my general state of mind to really focus a lot more on training and trying to get the best out of myself. I’ve found that has had a fair impact on my game.

"The difference in your state of mind between going to a football club for training and going home to write music is pretty significant.

"So I go through periods where I don’t write too much at all. Other times I’m writing all the time. So hopefully when I’m finished with the football stuff, I can get more serious into music.”

Boyle’s conflicting interests in music and sport aren’t the only struggle he has had to endure.

Having been hampered by injury for the majority of his playing career, he believes he’s still trying to alter his teammates’ opinion of him.

“It’s something I’m still trying to change, peoples' perception about how I’m involved in the game.

"I don’t think people dislike you necessarily but you’re there to get the best out of yourself and for the team so if you’re not at your best then it stops other people from being at their best.

"I’ve had to prioritise a little bit. I don’t think I really said that to myself, but subconsciously my priority was definitely to get the best out of myself last year.

"Straight away I could feel the difference it was having on myself and the people around me, in terms of the way they were viewing me.

"The nature of the game is that it requires your full attention and, if you don’t give it, it spits you out fairly quickly.”

Boyle played the first 13 games last year, averaging over two goals a match, before a hamstring injury struck. It was the latest in a long line of injury woes which started with a broken leg in 2004.

“That hurt a bit more than the other ones [injuries] last year, because I’d put a lot of effort into getting myself into that position. My form was good and I was on a roll and then I had to miss a month.

"It’s very frustrating but that’s part of sport. That’s why you enjoy the good times, because it’s such a hard game."

But Boyle believes he has benefited from his misfortune.

“I’m always able to learn from these things. I learned that the game wasn’t going to change to suit me, I had to change myself to suit the game if I wanted to play it. Including my approach to training, my approach to my preparation and how I was viewing myself.”

This time around, he is fully fit going into pre-season and believes he’s with a group of players who gel well.

“It’s a good group of guys. I’ve been at the club for five years and this is the best that I’ve seen it I think. Guys are just willing to accept each other for their differences.”

Being part of a goal-scoring setup boasting the emerging star status of “Buddy” Franklin, Boyle says the other forwards are happy to reap the benefits of his increasing profile.

“Obviously he [Buddy] is going to be a star, no matter what happens. He can kick five or six goals on any given day when the leash is off.

"There’s definitely an aura around him when he gets the ball because he’s a very talented player.

"Hopefully we’re able to harness it a little bit and make sure that everyone’s sharing the load and the success too.

"I think we did that pretty well for most of the year in that forward line and I think that helped the team a lot.”

The young list at Hawthorn went close to achieving their premiership goal a little earlier than expected in 2007, and with fans hungry for more success, Boyle said you can’t put a time frame on dreams.

“We really felt that on our day [this year] we could have played in a Grand Final. Who’s to say that we couldn’t have?

"There’s no point waiting for these things to happen… you can have a goal to win a premiership because obviously that’s what everyone’s playing for but you can only really prepare for it and when it comes, it comes.”