Globetrotter Sammy DeGraff reckons Bermuda Hogges will see the best of him this season after his six-month football odyssey in pursuit of a professional contract.

DeGraff joins up with his Hogges team-mates this week for pre-season training and believes he's a far more mature player following his trials and tribulations playing in South America and Europe.

The 28-year-old spent three months on a mission to win a pro-contract in Brazil and Uruguay during which he lived in a three-bedroom house with 18 other hopefuls and often couldn't afford to eat three meals a day.

He recently returned from Belgium where he rubbed shoulders with players schooled at Benfica and AS Roma while playing for a select team run by a British football agency with close links to Hogges coach Kyle Lightbourne.

But for now he will turn his focus on helping Hogges reach the USL-D2 play-offs as he waits to discover if his performances overseas garnered the interest of talent scouts.

"The trials in Belgium went okay for me and I'll just have to wait and see if anything comes out them," said DeGraff, who was unable to attend an open trial at MLS side Kansas City Wizards as it clashed with his Belgium tour.

"At the very least it was a great experience and I feel my game has improved.

"I've learned that it's so important to have your name floating about as you never know who's watching you play. If your name's already out there then your life can really change in the blink of an eye."

DeGraff's select team was assembled by Paul Taylor - Lightbourne's ex-director of football at Walsall FC - and played four matches against professional Belgium clubs before of a raft of scouts.

The North Village midfielder was pleased with his overall showing and said he was impressed with the technical ability of the Belgium players.

"I thought Belgium football was all about the long ball but I was surprised with the technical ability of the players. Our team was pretty strong, also, and we had a former Benfica player and a young guy who had just been released from AS Roma in Italy," said DeGraff, whose team won one, drew two and lost one.

"Paul Taylor handed out our resumes to the scouts who watched our games and so you never know. But for now I'm just focusing on giving it my all for Hogges."

As far as DeGraff's concerned Hogges should be pushing for a play-off berth this term after narrowly missing out last season. "If it hadn't have been for Bermuda's World Cup qualifiers I think we would have made the play-offs last season. It's going to be tough without John Barry Nusum and Keishen Bean but it just means that the other players will have to step up."