NEW HAWK Shaun Burgoyne will have to wait until December to join his teammates in full training.
Burgoyne was walking with the aid of a crutch at Hawthorn's first official session of the pre-season on Wednesday but said he was progressing well from knee surgery.
"I wanted to get rid of it two weeks ago but the doctors made me keep it for precautionary reasons," he said.
"So I had six weeks on with two crutches and two weeks with one, but in terms of walking around and being pain free, I can do that normally but I was being precautionary and taking things a bit slower."
Despite spending his 27 years in the Northern Territory and South Australia, Burgoyne reiterated he was keen to change clubs because of a desire to base himself in football-mad Melbourne.
After much negotiation between the two clubs, Burgoyne's switch from Port Adelaide to Hawthorn was one of the biggest deals of trade week and also involved Essendon and Geelong.
He had played 157 games in eight seasons for the Power, winning a premiership medallion in 2004 and All-Australian selection in 2006.
A knee injury limited him to just nine games this season.
"That's the main reason I wanted to change clubs and come to Hawthorn. I wanted to experience playing in Melbourne," Burgoyne added.
"Since I started my career I've been in the Port Adelaide bubble. I came through the Port Magpies juniors and lived with my brother (Peter) and came to the Power. I haven't known anything other than that.
"Myself and my wife thought it was a great opportunity to move to Melbourne and experience something different and Hawthorn was the ideal location having being coached by Clarko (Alastair Clarkson), our fitness guy Andrew Russell and a couple of people I knew here.
"It was a logical choice at the end of the day."
Burgoyne had nominated Hawthorn as his preferred destination before the exchange period and, even though discussions between the Hawks and Power were protracted, he never doubted it would happen for him.
"I was pretty confident the trade would get done," he said. "It took a lot longer than we thought. I was pretty confident both parties could come to some sort of arrangement.
"I was hoping Port Adelaide would be compensated and they were. I spent so many years there but I am happy to be here now."
