After six seasons of playing for Port Adelaide, Aaron Young says it's been a blessing to move outside the "footy bubble" to Gold Coast.

While the primary reason for Young's off-season trade was to get more playing opportunities, the SUNS utility says there has been a spin-off effect of moving from footy-mad South Australia to Queensland.

"You get your life back a bit," Young told AFL.com.au.

"You can walk down the street and no-one recognises you.

"If you have a poor game, you can get back to training and focus on what you need to do without too much outside noise.

"I've really enjoyed that aspect of getting outside the footy bubble."

Young said having some school mates on the Coast had helped with his work-life balance.

The 25-year-old has made a strong impression in his first season at the SUNS, playing all 13 games, averaging 15 disposals and kicking 10 goals in a variety of roles.

After back-to-back losses from Geelong and Greater Western Sydney in rounds 11 and 12, the SUNS were put under the broader media spotlight, but Young said it was easy to focus on the task at hand.

"When the media's really harsh on teams it can set you back mentally and it becomes a grind that's hard to get out of," he said.

"In a way we're lucky up here that the scrutiny isn't as hard.

"Monday you come in, review it really hard and honest, but you go about your daily business.

"You can get a session done and do the same on Tuesday and Wednesday and you can stay in that positive mindset of trying to continually improve and make gains."

After starting with successive wins, the SUNS' have found the going tough in recent weeks.

They face the white-hot Collingwood at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.

"They just stick at it for four quarters at the moment, the Pies," Young said.

"They're in really good form. We've been able to bring our style in for quarters here and there, but we need to do it for four quarters.

"There's no better test than Collingwood at the moment."