Nursing the back injury which had given him much grief and caused him to miss the first half of the season for Geelong, Christensen looked on bemused as commentator Dermott Brereton took off on a rambling journey of a question.

Either confusing Christensen with a teammate or lost in another train of thought, Brereton began soliloquising about Australia's top end and the sentimental pull of "up north", asking him to describe the lure of home.

Christensen let him arrive at the destination, then with some pleasure landed the punchline. "Well, I'm lucky, I'm from Lara," he said, as the commentary box broke up in hysterics.

He still can't help but giggle at the memory. "It was pretty funny. I saw it coming from a mile away," he chuckles. "You could see all the other boys in the box thinking, 'This guy's got no idea what he's talking about'. I just thought I'd put him back in his box."

The moment won Dermie the feted "Gold Scheissen" award of 2014. And yet, as it's transpired, with Christensen joining Brisbane in the post-season's most unexpected trade, Brereton wasn't all that far off the mark. "I suppose he'll claim he was right now," Christensen smiles.

But after a traumatic couple of months in which the personal issues that caused Christensen to seek a way out of Simonds Stadium became the subject of much intrigue, things are finally starting to settle down.

"It was hard dealing with people not understanding that, but I'm really looking forward to my future here," he said as Brisbane went about its pre-season campaign at a Noosa training camp.

Geelong chief executive Brian Cook was one of those people. "It is difficult to help someone who doesn't want to be helped," Cook said only last week.

"He admitted he had some personal issues and felt he needed to leave this environment to deal with them. I don't believe that. We needed to deal with them. He made a decision that I hope doesn't come back … which he regrets in the future."

Christensen isn't angry about the comments, just insistent that only he alone can be the judge of the solution required.

"It's my life, not anyone else's," he said. "Just because I play footy doesn't mean I'm not a normal person and have to deal with stuff they do. Hopefully, people in 12 or 24 months time when I go back to Geelong to see my family will see how much happier I am.

"I know people there care about me, and that's why they were upset about it and angry. I knew I'd be upsetting people but I also know Brisbane were happy to have me, and that they've put in place a really good support system to help me.

"I'll just have to let my football do the talking for now, and hopefully take it up to another level."

This is something of which Christensen is confident. For a start, he's joining a suddenly burgeoning on-field brigade including Dayne Beams, Mitch Robinson and a long-term casualty but class act in Daniel Rich. Then there's the post-season surgery on his troublesome back which may just have done the trick.

"I haven't really played injury-free for two or three years," he said. "But I had a decent year in 2013 and that was when I had a decent pre-season, so I know the level I can get to if I can get fit.

"I think I've come up here at the right time, at the start of the rehab from surgery, just going about it a different way. That's no disrespect to Geelong, they got me back playing really quickly, but unfortunately it blew up again. We'll just see how this one goes, but so far it's tracking really well, and I'm in a good place."

And so are the Lions, expectations about 2015 are already significantly higher than when Justin Leppitsch took over as coach a year ago, with the club still teetering from the sacking of Michael Voss, months of turmoil at board level and the much-chronicled departure of five players all seeking a return to their home states.

"Getting Dayne [Beams] and 'Robbo' really adds to the depth but I'd already sussed all that out when I decided to come to Brisbane," Christensen said. "But it's not just them. Jack Redden, Tom Rockliff, Daniel Rich … look at all those names, they're established AFL players who'd be playing in any team in the league.

"We've got a long way to go to get to where we want to be, but I guess coming from a really successful club I can sort of see the similarities in the direction, and it's really excited me. I'm stoked to be able to pass on some of the knowledge that I've picked up from blokes like Joel Selwood and Jimmy Bartel, and I think I'm in a good position to be able to help lead at this club even though I'm still one of the young blokes."

Certainly, like Geelong, with many potential midfield rotations at Brisbane, Christensen is going to have to be at the top of his game to get the sort of midfield minutes he's looking for.

"Obviously I want to try to get myself in condition where I can play a high half-forward or midfield role. They know I can play a variety of roles," he said. "The main goal for guys like me, Josh Green and Dayne Zorko is to try to break into that midfield. That's going to be a tough gig, but I saw at Geelong for five years that the more competition for spots at a club the better it is."

Christensen inevitably still talks about Geelong a lot. His heart, he says, is still in his old home town of Lara, and some of his best mates are with the Cats.

"I still get messages from the boys at Geelong asking: 'How's Brisbane?' and 'what's it like', yada, yada. They've had plenty of changes there as well, and I reckon they'll have a good year. But my future's here, and I'm really looking forward to building this club into something I think could be pretty special."

And when his new club and his old one clash in round 18 next year, Christensen is under no illusions about continued friendships counting for much at all. "I reckon it might be a bit frosty to be honest," he chuckles. "Hopefully, I'll be playing some good footy by then."

Importantly, though, Christensen doesn't feel the need to add anything about hoping he'll be happy by then. It's been a bit of a bumpy road getting a lot further north than Lara, but as far as happiness goes, Christensen already has it.