Lachie Whitfield has endured a season of flattenings and not all that much flattery, but the No.1 draft pick wouldn't trade it for anything.
It's been almost nine months since Victorian Whitfield was uprooted by fledgling AFL club Greater Western Sydney.
In that time, Whitfield says Sydney has come to feel like home as he learned how to cook and clean while playing 17 games for the Giants.
The spectre of losing all but one of those matches has sometimes bothered Whitfield.
"It can be a bit flattening, having only had the one win. It can be hard getting up some Mondays," he told AAP.
"But the joy last week (when GWS beat Melbourne) was something else.
"On the whole it's been a blast. One of the best feelings I've ever experienced in my life was last week when we beat the Dees.
"I never expected to play so many games. I'm getting quite a taste of league footy and learning a lot."
Those Melbourne clubs hoping the carrot of family and a pinch of homesickness will prise Whitfield from the Giants' grasp may be in trouble.
Contract talks between Whitfield's management and GWS are in the early stages, with the 19-year-old wanting to wait until the end of the season before thinking about a new deal for 2015.
But the talented midfielder is enjoying everything about the Giants - especially the chance to escape Victoria's unbridled obsession with the game.
It's something Whitfield knows all too well, having been touted as a No.1 draft pick since March last year.
"It was quite a full-on year, finishing VCE and juggling that with footy and the tags you get along the way," Whitfield said.
"But I got through it. Moving up this year has been really good.
"I love it (Sydney), you go to Bondi or Coogee and you're just another person on the beach.
"We don't hear as much about footy. I still don't even know the extent of the Essendon saga - and nobody asks you what's going on."
Although not everyone in NSW has been quite so welcoming.
"I've played Sydney twice, and the following weeks were some of the hardest of my life - just trying to get up for the next week," he said.
