Former Collingwood and Sydney star Paul Wiliams loved his time at Collingwood.
But playing for one of the biggest sporting teams in the country can take its toll.
So when Williams moved to Sydney in 2001 following 189 games for the Pies, he discovered a new sense of freedom.
“The best analogy I could have is I used to go to the local shop to get bread and milk (in Melbourne),” he told This is Your Sporting Life - for Tobin Brothers Funerals - celebrating lives.
“Monday was a really bad day to do that.
“You’d get feedback from the owner about everything that happened in the game. It’d take 45 minutes to get home.
“But when I went to Sydney, I’d go and I’d be back in five minutes.
“No-one asks you anything here, they just ask if that’s all you want.
“I think that’s a part of why so many mature-age players that went to Sydney that really thrived because you could actually be normal.
“You could go train, get as fit as you possibly can, have a really nice lifestyle around the weather, the beaches, the recovery, all that sort of stuff and you could be normal.
“You could walk the streets and no-one would know your name.”
Williams played 306 games for Collingwood and Sydney from 1991 to 2006.
He was a premiership player in 2005 and an All-Australian in 2003.
Listen to Peter Donegan’s chat with Paul Williams in the player below: