TOM MORRIS: Trent thanks for joining us today on saints.com.au

TRENT DENNIS-LANE: No worries Tom.

TM: From Subiaco to Sydney and now to Seaford, you’ve travelled across the country for football. How are you finding it here at the Saints?

TDL: Yeah I’m loving it down here. I spent three years in Sydney, got traded down here and loving Melbourne at the moment. It’s a little bit more laid back than Sydney; Sydney’s pretty busy and pretty hectic. I’ve settled in pretty well and am living about half an hour drive away from training but it’s against the traffic.

TM: How do you find the media spotlight here in Melbourne compared to Sydney?

TDL: Football is all over the radio and all in the paper so obviously it is a lot more. But being from Perth, I am used to the footy being in the media. It was weird going to Sydney actually, it was just completely rugby dominated. I couldn’t read anything; I had to get on the Internet to read about the footy.

TM: Let’s go back to your Subiaco days in the WAFL. 66 goals in 2009 including four goals in the Grand Final, at that stage did you believe you were good enough to play AFL?

TDL: It’s a hard question obviously. It was more about wanting the opportunity to see if I could do it. Luckily enough Sydney picked me up at the end of that year. That was my first full season playing in the WAFL senior that year, Subiaco was such a strong side and I had been in and out of the team in the two years prior to 2009. Luckily I managed to kick a few goals that year, including the grand final which we unfortunately lost but I think the fact I performed on Grand Final day gave me more of an opportunity to get picked up.

TM: Talk us through your basketball background, how valuable has that been to your footy?

TDL: I played basketball flat-out until I was about 11 or 12. Most of my cousins on my Dad’s side of the family used to play and we had a basketball ring out the back. At birthdays when we would get together we’d just play flat-out and they were all a couple of years older than me. I was always the youngest one trying to be as good as my older cousins.

I think basketball mainly helped with my hand-eye [coordination] like catching the ball and a bit of leaping. When I transferred into footy it was the marking side of things that I reckon it helped the most.

TM: Take your mind forward to the 2010 elimination final versus Carlton. You kicked four goals. What transpired from that point onwards at the Swans?

TDL: I had a little bit of trouble with injuries. I was picked for Round 1 the following year and with five or six minutes to go in the last training session of the week one of my teammates spoiled the ball behind me and we sort of got tangled up, he landed on my ankle and I rolled it pretty badly.

After missing two or three weeks I got back in and played a couple of games and then got pretty crook, and missed another couple of weeks there. I got selected again and again on the main training session I had a little hiccup with my foot and didn’t play that weekend either.

It’s hard because you are ready to play, you get picked, and then you come out of the side and it sort of sets you back two or three weeks. A one week injury turns into a week off and then three or four weeks in the reserves.

TM: What was your state of mind at the time?

TDL: I got frustrated I suppose. But I just love playing footy so if I was playing in the twos I’d be trying to get back up into the senior side. You can definitely feel a little bit lost sometimes.

TM: How hard was it to sit and watch your teammates go out and win the 2012 Grand Final as an emergency?

TDL: Yeah it was hard but even harder was having to warm-up with them and then watch them run out. There was me, Tony Armstrong and Tommy Walsh and we all sort of sat together and watched the game up in the stands. We were pumped for the boys. Every time they kicked a goal we were up celebrating. We were very happy for them to win but also very envious I think.

TM: Were you ever a realistic chance to play?

TDL: Someone would have had to get injured for me to go in, probably a forward-line player. I prepared as if I was an outside chance of playing because you never know what could happen.

TM: Scott Watters was your coach at Subiaco, how much would you stay in contact with him when you were at Sydney and he was at Collingwood?

TDL: Yeah a little bit. He was assistant-coach at Collingwood and we spoke a little bit but we didn’t chat every day or anything like that.

TM: Did the fact he is St Kilda’s coach help in your move to the Saints?

TDL: Yeah it definitely did. At the end of last year when I sort of thought about getting traded, he said that they (St Kilda) had a little bit of interest in me. After talking to my manager, I thought coming back home to Scott, who I played my best football under back in the WAFL – that would help to further develop me.

TM: What’s been his message to you since you have arrived?

TDL: Just to work hard in the forward line and to try and apply pressure both offensively and defensively. It’s a pretty simple sort of message and if I work hard on those things then I give myself a pretty good chance of playing.

TM: How do you see yourself fitting into the St Kilda forward line?

TDL: The best thing about [our] forward-line compared to Sydney is they played one small forward whereas here they play multiple smalls. In my mind I am just happy that I get to compete for multiple spots instead of just the one spot.

TM: What role has Stephen Milne played since you got here?

TDL: We pretty much just have little informal chats about different things and especially because he’s a gun, it’s really helpful. He’s really good at crumbing which is what I am trying to work on at the moment.

TM: What are your strengths as a footballer?

TDL: My strengths are probably my pace and I have got a pretty keen goal-sense.

TM: Which players have impressed you on the track this pre-season?

TDL: When I first got here I thought Jack Steven was training really well, especially pre-Christmas when he won the most professional trainer award. Since Roo (Nick Riewoldt) has been back, he works harder than anyone and punches out some good numbers on the GPS. It’s just good to watch how the real stars go about it.

TM: What are you aims for the upcoming AFL season?

TDL: I’m not trying to put too many expectations on myself but I’d like to play as much senior football as I possibly can. That’s the aim.

TM: At 24 years of age, do you feel as if you’re primed to make a consistent impact at AFL level?

TDL: Yeah I hope so for sure. Nobody wants to be inconsistent and moving between the VFL and AFL. That’s certainly the plan and hopefully I will be able to put that into place.

TM: Thanks for your time Trent, good luck for the 2013 season.

TDL: No worries Tom, cheers.