ISAAC Smith will be at least 22 by the time he makes his AFL debut, but Hawthorn's most recent first-round draft pick has no regrets about the roundabout nature of his journey to the top.

You won't hear Smith ruing missed opportunities or bemoaning the circumstances that kept him off the radar of AFL recruiters until this year because he knows he just wasn't ready to make the giant leap into elite company until now. 

The Cootamundra lad has been a paper boy, a lifeguard, a cafe assistant and a construction worker among other things and, while he didn't always enjoy them, each experience was an important signpost along the road to Waverley.

"It is the perfect age for me to be coming into the AFL," Smith explained. "I've got a degree behind me now so I don't have to worry about things after football as much and I can just really attack this.

"I don't think I would have been able to handle all this when I was 18.

"It's a cut-throat business and you've only got a short amount of time, so I think having an extra four years under my belt is a real positive. That's not only to do with my football, but also just life in general.

"I just look at it now and go 'Gee, how good is this job compared to some of the bad jobs I've had over the journey?'"

Smith has moved in with Jarryd Roughead while he learns the ropes and admits there has been a lot to take in.

The fleet-footed winger hadn't been at the club more than a few days before heading off to New Zealand for a training camp that he says was mentally and physically draining, but also an excellent way for the new draftees to get acquainted with their new teammates.

The Hawks made Smith this year's bolter when they used pick 19 at November's NAB AFL Draft to secure him after he burst onto the scene with a barnstorming finish to the VFL season with eventual premiers North Ballarat.

That is no small feat given he started the year playing with his mates at Redan in the Ballarat Football League.

"It all happened in a couple of days," Smith says of his mid-season invitation to try out for the VFL side. "I'd got a couple of mates to come out and play at Redan so I felt a bit bad for them, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"I only knew two or three guys at North Ballarat, so it wasn't easy to fit in half way through the year. I had to gain people's respect in a very short period of time and create a lot of new relationships, but it all worked out for the best.

"It was a challenge that I wanted to meet and I did so it's all good."

It was the influence of Smith's dad that saw him favour AFL as a lad growing up in the heart of rugby league country and his love of the sport only grew when he started playing for Redan having moved to Ballarat to pursue university studies in sports management.

While others marvel at the unusual sequence of events that eventually saw him become a Hawk, Smith is completely at ease with it all and is unfazed by the expectation that accompanies being an AFL club's first draft pick.

"I play footy because I love it and it's a great challenge. There's no point worrying about the pressure of it," he says.

"Everything has worked out for the best. Hopefully I can get a kick now. I reckon Hawthorn will probably be hoping the same."