BOOM recruit Jordan Lewis says he has no regrets whatsoever about joining Melbourne, after playing in four premierships with Hawthorn.
Lewis played 264 games for the Hawks from 2005-16, before he crossed to the red and blue in October last year.
In the lead-up to his first season with the club, the 30-year-old couldn’t speak highly enough about his move on Melbourne TV series AHG Road to Round 1.
“I’ve seriously loved the decision [to join Melbourne]. I’m really happy with the decision and the position that I’m in. It was a little bit daunting at the start because you’re going into the unknown,” he said.
“Probably at the start [of your career], you would like to be a one-club player, but that doesn’t really mean much to me now.
“I’ve embraced Melbourne like they’ve embraced me and I just see it as the second part of my career. I want to have success at Melbourne and really create an identity there, as well as Hawthorn.
“It’s nice to come into a club where there are so many young kids who want to learn off you and that makes you feel wanted.”
Reflecting on his departure from the Hawks, after a highly-decorated career in the brown and gold, Lewis was pragmatic about finishing up with the club.
“You understand as a player that you’re there for a short period of time. You don’t own the club and they don’t own you,” he said.
“There comes a time where you need to move on, or the coach decides you need to move on, or you decide you’re not happy in that environment and you need to move on.
“What you’ve done for the club certainly gets taken into account to a certain extent, but that certainly doesn’t put all the balls in your court.
“You need to understand that the club has their best interests at heart as well. No matter what you’ve done in the past – that’s great, but sometimes it’s time to move on.”
Lewis said he expects to play a variety of roles this season and is adamant about what he wants to achieve in 2017.
“From what (coach) Goody (Simon Goodwin) has said so far, he’ll play me around the ball and on the wing, as well as down back,” he said.
“I think we’ve got quite a young backline and we’ll have a few newcomers in Hibbo (Michael Hibberd) and Melky (Jake Melksham), so there will be a few of us rolling down there.
“We saw some really big improvements from Melbourne last year and that was a step in the right direction and we want to improve on that again, so if that means finals, then it’s certainly on the cards this year.
“I would say if we weren’t to play finals this year, we’d be quite disappointed.”
