HE WILL be wearing different coloured stripes this season, but Collingwood recruit Clinton Young says the hurt of last year's Grand Final defeat will still drive him to succeed.

Set to play his first game for the Magpies in Friday night's NAB Cup opener, the former Hawk is determined to quickly establish himself as he chases more finals action.

"Losing a Grand Final is pretty hard, and that will certainly motivate me more this year," Young said at the launch of the pre-season competition on Monday.

"I went through the review process a few days after the game at Hawthorn, but since then I've tried to completely forget about it, really, other than using it as motivation for this season.

"I'll be doing everything I can to make Collingwood a better team."

The dashing wingman had to be eased into training at his new club after post-season foot surgery.

But he has recovered strongly and will look to impress against Essendon and the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

"During [our camp in] Utah I was still in rehab, but I stepped up training at the start of January, and the last few weeks I've been participating in full training," Young said.

"It's progressed well.

"I'll be playing this Friday and be building up throughout the next few weeks to be ready for round one."

The 26-year-old said he was "shocked" by the findings of the Australian Crime Commission's report into performance enhancing drugs in Australian sport, but wouldn't allow the ongoing speculation to become a distraction.

"The players are just worried about what they can do, which is play footy," he said.

"The season starts this Friday."

Clinton Young is a midfielder in AFL Fantasy. He averaged 81 points in 2012. Register your team at our AFL Fantasy hub.