On the eve of his debut for Hawthorn, former West Coast Eagles star Tom Barrass has opened up about how he has struggled to adapt to Hokball.

The 2018 Eagles flag winner, who requested a trade from Perth to Melbourne after a clandestine meeting with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell midway through last year, is a central character in Channel Seven’s new fly-on-the-wall documentary, Full Sweat.

The documentary that follows the Hawks through their summer pre-season airs tonight at 9.30pm.

Despite being considered one of the best defenders in the AFL the 29-year-old found it hard to adapt to the way Hawthorn structured its defence and how they trained.

The Hawks lost both their pre-season games to Geelong and the Western Bulldogs and the pressure of expectation on the players for the 2025 season is ever-present throughout Full Sweat.

“It’s been real eye opener watching myself in the team reviews and clips and myself wondering why am I doing that because it’s something I have trained into myself?” he says in Full Sweat.

“I have had to re-learn this faculty of football which I had forgotten and it’s hard to get it straight away.

“I’ve been second guessing myself if I am bringing value to the team.

“There’s a few different things around the way I play that isn’t the way Hawthorn played.”

The son of legendary WA journalist Tony Barrass speaks candidly in the show about a serious injury he suffered playing for West Coast changed his outlook on his career.

“About two years ago I broke my spine playing footy against Richmond. One of my vertebrae was snapped. I started having some problems with my left arm especially,” he said.

“We had two kids under two, Benson must have been three months old. It was a really tough time for our family and I think it shone a light on why I play the game.

“It became clear to me family was my number one priority and so decided to take the trip across the country and finish off the last bit of my career in Melbourne.

“I think Nadia knew I wasn’t satisfied in my life so she has been nothing but supportive. We got married a week ago and it was the most magical day for us.”

And while Mitchell and Barrass played together at West Coast in 2017 and Mitchell went on to be part of the Eagles coaching staff that did not mean the Hawks coach would be cutting any corners for his former teammate.

During one training session Mitchell remarks he liked the look of how Barrass was playing as he had “remembered how to play footy”.

Barrass and Josh Battle (St Kilda) were recruited to beef up the Hawks defensive 50 as the club pushes to be considered real contenders in 2025.

The Scarborough boy will have a tough baptism of fire for his new club when they take on Sydney on Friday night in the AFL season opener at the SCG.

Full Sweat airs Wednesday, 9.30pm on Seven and 7plus