When the North players lined up for four 1.6 kilometre time trials in Utah, new recruit Will Sierakowski was happy to blend in with the rest of his running group.

But after coming second in the first leg to Ryan Bastinac, he took a much different approach.

The former Hawk hit the front for the next three runs and did his best to impress his new team-mates and coaches. He even caught the eye of several Utah Jazz representatives who had come to observe the session.

“It was a solid session again today but it was good to get through it,” he said.

“Initially I was reasonably ordinary at running, I’ve had to put a lot of work into it technique-wise and also to get a bit of endurance up but after under 18’s I’ve become a lot better.”

Traded to North Melbourne for pick 58, the 21-year old says he is fitting in well at his new club.

“I was a bit nervous. I’d met a couple of the boys in the gym at Aegis Park and said ‘hi’, but the first day really was a plane ride over and straight into the Utah camp. They’ve all been pretty good. Everyone is easy to talk to and gives me good feedback and the younger boys have really helped me out a lot with the planning.

“I roomed with Jamie Macmillan for the first week and he was really helpful with getting me to come out to group dinners and being involved with all the boys.”

The nephew of former St Kilda premiership player Brian Sierakowski and the cousin of former West Coast and St Kilda's David Sierakowski, he has lived in Sydney for most of his life.

“I played all my junior footy in Sydney and was on the New South Wales Scholarship Program with Hawthorn for a year and became a full-time rookie with them for two years and was lucky to be picked up by North Melbourne a few weeks back.”

Soon after being traded, Sierakowski was quick to find out more about the Kangaroos.

“Hawthorn has a lot of North Melbourne influences with Josh Gibson, David Hale and Adam Simpson so I went to them and asked about the club and they had nothing but good things to say about it.

“I knew all about the Shinboner Spirit and coming to the club I’ve realised just how professional it is. The Utah trip means we are matching it with every other club in the AFL in terms of professionalism and the resources we have.”

Having been to Kokoda with the Hawks, Sierakowski says the camps are hard to compare.

“Kokoda was totally different to this. It’s more of a club spirit type of trip for the Hawks whereas the Utah trip is an elite athlete type of program and very science driven. You can’t really compare the two because they’re designed for different outcomes I suppose.

“Utah has been very tough and challenging given the duration of it. It’s three weeks and also there have been some early sessions. We did a Brazilian session the other day which I think is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I usually cope with anything to do with running alright but I was completely spent after that and struggled with the hike back afterwards.”

A raking left-foot kick, the former rookie says he still has plenty to work on if he’s to make his AFL debut.

“I need to build on my strength and my speed. If I’m going to play in defence at this club I need to improve my marking and help the guys out because there’s a pretty strong unit back there.”

But he has plenty of strengths too.

“My endurance is pretty good at the moment and will only get better with another full pre-season. I also see my kicking as an attribute.”

And it's go, go, go!

Ryan Bastinac has a new challenger - new recruit Will Sierakowski

Nathan Grima leads out the defensive group

Ryan Bastinac out in front in the first time trial

Representatives from the Utah Jazz NBA team watched on

The forwards stick together

Lachie Hansen takes front spot

Cameron Pedersen leads out Ben Mabon and Drew Petrie

Petrie gets into stride

The rucks run side-by-side

All smiles despite another tough day

North Melbourne staff and players will be tweeting from Utah. Search the hashtag #utahroos or visit twitter.com/northkangaroos for updates.

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