Click here to watch Trent Stubbs discuss his first month at his new club

Collingwood secured Trent Stubbs with overall pick 77 in this year’s national draft, a player who spent three years on Hawthorn’s NSW scholarship list.

Stubbs was signed by the Hawks as part of the NSW scholarship scheme but found himself in black and white stripes when the draft occurred in November.

“I didn’t have much of an idea where I was going,” Stubbs told CTV during his final session before the break.

“I was nervous heading into it.  I spoke to the Pies a few times and had a bit of an idea but you can never be one hundred percent.”

Living in Sydney for most of his life, Stubbs has already experienced an AFL preseason having trained with the Hawks in 2009 including joining the team on their annual Kokoda trek.

“I was at Hawthorn for three years on a scholarship.  Got a few experiences there.  Trained a full preseason there including doing the Kokoda trek.  I had a fair idea what an AFL preseason was like.”

The club's third pick has already spent some time working with assistant coach Nathan Buckley when Stubbs represented the Australian Institute of Sport in South Africa in 2009.

The small forward played under Buckley, Jason McCartney and Marcus Ashcroft and believes the experience helped propel him to improve his overall game.

"It was an honor to represent the AIS and to work under Bucks and the rest of the coaching staff was extremely beneficial.

"It helped show me what I had to do to take my game to the next level.

Stubbs has had several conversations with VFL coach Tarkyn Lockyer, who indicated he wants to see the young Pie develop his inside game as a running utility.

“Tarks has spoken to me a bit.  He knows I play half forward and half back.  Bit of an outside player but would like to work on my inside game a bit more.”

“It’s been a great experience and I’ll play wherever.”