Rupert Wills may be a lot more interested in the All Blacks than the Black and White if the midfielder’s parents didn’t make a life-changing decision in the year 2000.

Wills was seven years old and playing in the youngest age levels of touch rugby when his family decided to relocate from their native New Zealand to Melbourne.

Upon arriving in Australia, Wills played soccer for three years before picking up a Sherrin for the first time with a group of school friends.

While the early stages of his football path are far from traditional, the midfielder believes it gives him a solid grounding as he looks to build an AFL career.

“I was born in New Zealand and I lived the first six or seven years of my life there,” Wills told Collingwood Media.

“Mum and Dad are from New Zealand so their experience of football is not exactly traditional.

“It’s quite good because they give me a different perspective on how to approach it.”

Wills was at home with his parents and two siblings when AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan read out his name with the No. 63 pick in the 2015 National Draft.

“Obviously it was a big surprise when my name was called out,” the former VFL Magpie said.

“Within about 15 minutes my mates came over.

“They were all really excited but it’s all sort of died down a bit now that I’m getting into the day-to-day routine of being a professional footballer and having a full-time job.”

While fellow draftees Brayden Sier, Tom Phillips and Ben Crocker are in their teens, at 22 Wills has had time to pursue interests outside of football before embarking on his new career.

He has spent a year living and travelling overseas while he is also two and a half years into a law-commerce double-degree at Deakin University.

He plans to continue studying and will seek advice and knowledge from other young Magpies who are completing degrees.

“I plan on keeping that going but obviously bring back the workload a bit… I think it’s important to do something else outside footy to take your mind off it and keep yourself level,” he said.

“I know Darcy Moore was doing a couple of units… Tom Langdon is the same and I think there’s a few other blokes who are also studying.

“It’ll be good to feed off them on how they’re able to balance uni life with football."

Wills is quickly adjusting to the work-life balance of being an AFL footballer. After combining study with a season in Collingwood’s VFL side in 2015, he is quickly learning how life is changing.

“There’s a lot of training sessions and backing them up day after day, session after session. That’s probably the most challenging thing,” he said.

“I think it was a really big advantage last year to play in the VFL against big bodies and senior listed AFL players… that’s really helped the transition to the first few days this pre-season.”