New recruit Mitch Morton is under no illusions about the hard work it will take to turn around his career and have an impact at the Swans.

The 24-year old became a Swan yesterday when a deadline day trade with Richmond went through, with the Tigers receiving selection 79 in next month’s AFL draft in exchange for the classy mid-sized forward.

Morton will call Sydney his third home town since his career began in Perth with the West Coast Eagles back in 2005, and he says he is excited about the prospect of moving north and competing for a place in the side.

“I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for me and something I’m very excited and very happy about,” Morton told sydneyswans.com.au.

“Sydney is a club that everyone admires. The way they back it up every year, even when they seem to be going through transitions with their list and adding new players to the team, they’re always just so competitive.”

Since his season wound up with the Tigers at the beginning of September, Morton has gone on a self-described ‘fitness campaign’ involving plenty of running and time in the gym in an effort to build his fitness base - an area of his game he has identified as a weakness.

“I probably haven’t had a good enough couple of last pre-seasons and that’s floated into my football,” he said. “I probably haven’t had a good enough all round game.”

“At times I’ve been good offensively. At times I’ve been good defensively. But I’ve never really been putting those whole games together, basically because I haven’t been fit enough.”

One area of Morton’s game that has stood out, even through his recent tough spell at Richmond, is his accuracy in front of goal - an area the Swans are looking to improve in 2012.

Over his 71-game career, Morton has kicked 105 goals and 57 behinds, and has an uncanny knack of knowing exactly where the goals are. He feels if he can reproduce that conversion rate and combine it with a stronger emphasis on defence, he can play a role for the Swans.

“Kicking, and kicking for goal in general, is something that I’ve always worked really hard on throughout my career,” he said.

“I feel like I’m now starting to get the fitness base I need to be able to play the role defensively and offensively - the way that mid-sized forward role needs to be played.

“You know that if you play for Sydney you’re going to have to be sound defensively. I think that’s something that holds teams in good stead in the finals, and that’s why Sydney has played finals most years and have definitely impacted the finals for a long time.”

After seven years in the AFL system, the Tigers’ 2009 leading goalkicker acknowledges that it has taken him time to mature as a player, but he feels his best footballing years are still ahead of him.

“I think these days due to draft picks like Joel Selwood and Chris Judd, that everyone expects players to turn into men at 18 or 19 years of age, but the reality is it just doesn’t happen that way for everyone,” Morton said.

“I think I’m just one of those people who have taken a bit longer to develop.

“I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given in the AFL, but I don’t think until recently I’ve been mature enough to make the most of them.

“I’m looking forward to, from this day forward, taking every opportunity with both hands.”

Morton played with fellow Swans Matt Spangher and Mark Seaby when he was at West Coast, and has met Josh Kennedy and Ben McGlynn through his brother, Jarryd, who plays at Hawthorn. But it’s the reinvigorating prospect of moving to Sydney and meeting the rest of the playing group that perhaps excites Morton the most.

“It’s sort of a clean slate with everything,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to moving up, meeting the guys, and having a massive, massive pre-season and trying to impress everyone with my work rate and what I’ve done so far during the break.”