A smile appears and is followed by a chuckle or two. Barry Hall concedes that on the field this year there wasn't a lot to smile about, but suddenly he has an amusing subject.

The topic is not Australian football but boxing, and the question which triggers Hall's amusement is about suggestions last week he could earn $100,000 to step into the ring in January with rugby league star Willie Mason.

"I must admit when I read that I chuckled. I laughed for a minute," Hall says. "I thought, 'I don't know where this is coming from', but it was obviously never going to happen.

"I've never asked the club if I could fight, and I wouldn't because I know the answer, and so it should be. Imagine if you pop a shoulder or get your jaw broken? That's it, so much for footy. But that's not the only reason I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't want to make a mockery of a sport I love.

"You can't do it. I trained in boxing as a young bloke, and played footy, and I can tell you, you can't do both. The preparation for one is going to hinder the other, and if you want to do either properly, you can only do one or the other.

"I don't know about Willie Mason's case. I haven't played rugby league and I don't know what training they do. But I know from an AFL point of view you couldn't do both. Anyway, I wouldn't jump in the ring unless I was 100 per cent prepared, and that's the way I go about my footy, the way I go about everything. If you're not doing either right, what's the point?"

Every time a footballer wants to hop into the ring, Hall's name seems to come up as a prospective opponent. He fought as youngster and was quite talented. His father was even disappointed when he chose a football instead of the gloves, and there has been talk that he should fight after AFL. But he says he's amused at how everyone wants him to fight now, and almost embarrassed when promoters start talking about the amount he can earn.

"I love boxing as a sport. I don't want to do it for money. I wouldn't want to make a mockery of it," Hall says, the smile vanishing. "And I'd want to earn my stripes just like the guy who fights down at the RSL club on a Thursday night.

"There are a lot better fighters than us [footballers] getting around but because they haven't got a profile, they don't get the dollars. I'd like to earn my stripes if I was going to do it, just like those guys. To do anything else, to just step in cold and earn the big money because I have a name courtesy of football, would be wrong for the sport.

"I seriously hope footy continues to go well and I don't have to fight because I'm ugly enough as it is. I would only ever box after footy is finished, when I can train properly and commit totally to boxing, or else you are treating the sport as a joke."

At 195 centimetres, 115 kilograms, and with amazing athletic ability on the field, Mason would be an imposing sight in a boxing ring. Who knows how well he can box, but we all saw his punch that knocked out British league player Stuart Fielden last year.

While Hall admits it would be "very interesting" to watch Mason fight, and he would go along and watch "if he sent me a ticket", he says just because Mason's big and strong doesn't mean he will be a hit in the ring.

"Obviously, it depends on who he fights, but boxing is completely different to punching a bag or belting someone in the pub," Hall says. "You need a hell of a lot of skill to be good at it. It's not all about punching people, you get hit yourself, your chin is going to get tested. so there's always a big question on anyone who fights."

Hall copped a few jabs of his own last season. His form was regularly questioned and criticised, and after groin, knee and ankle injuries, he struggled to be at his explosive best.

He concedes the year will go down as the most frustrating of his career, but it's gone now, and he's confident the next one will be so much better, especially after a good break.

"Every year that I've played, my uncle puts together a tape for me, which has all my highlights of the season," Hall explains. "I only watched it this week, to be honest, and while I was watching I thought there were actually some good parts of the year which I didn't even realise I had, because during the season everything was so negative. So it was good to watch and realise things weren't as bad as they seemed at the time.

"But I'm looking forward, I'm not going to dwell on last season. I know I can play better and I know I will play better. I had a bit of a full makeover in the off-season although I don't look any different. I had both my groins operated on, and I had my nasal passages cleared. After about 12 broken noses, it was totally blocked and I couldn't breathe out of it. The doctor who did it said it will help me quite a bit aerobically.

"And I had more laser eye surgery in my right eye. I went back for a check-up, and although I didn't notice it, when you're doing the tests, you could tell I needed something done."

When it is suggested everyone will now say that was his problem when dropping marks during the season, Hall jokes: "Yeah, I'll blame it on that, too."

Hall is working hard in rehabilitation, and will join team training after Christmas. He's so relaxed and focused, he can't wait for round one, and hasn't felt like this since he was young.

"People are saying that we've had our time and now the window of opportunity has closed," Hall says. "For an outsider, that's probably what it looks like. But it's not the way we feel, I've been really impressed with the way the guys have come back, and I don't know what it is, but everything seems more relaxed around the place.

"You never want to be knocked out of the finals early, but it could have been a blessing in disguise."