The Melbourne native was increasingly the subject of media speculation as he played out the last season of his contract with Freo, and the attention reached fever pitch after he made his decision to return home public.
He admits he was taken aback at seeing his name in the paper every second day - he has, after all, played just 21 games of AFL football -- and now that he's arrived at his desired destination, he's keen to put the very public tug-of-war for his services behind him.
"I'm just looking forward to getting my head down and my bum up and getting to work and letting my actions speak for me," Warnock says.
"It's all about potential at the moment … I've only played 21 games and I just want to get out there and prove myself."
Warnock's ordeal finally ended when the Blues sent draft picks 24, 56 and 72 to Fremantle in exchange for him and pick 69 with the trade deadline looming, but the transition to his new club has been hampered by injury.
His left shoulder popped out before the 2008 season, eventually requiring a season-ending reconstruction after round 18. Adding to the young tall's woes was an ankle injury suffered in his last game against Port Adelaide that refused to heal.
"They just thought it was a normal rolled ankle, but it kept lingering. When I got to Carlton they did a few scans and it showed that I had a bit of cartilage damage that needed to be trimmed up," Warnock explains.
"I hope to be up and going on a full program before Christmas. It will be about three weeks before I'm running on grass and then hopefully I'll be right into it a week or two after that.
"I wanted to be up and going straight away, but the shoulder probably won't be right to go for another week or so anyway, so getting the ankle done was the best thing to do.
"Hopefully it's a bit of a short term loss for a long-term gain."
Warnock is grateful for the opportunity the Blues have given him and is well aware of the price his new club paid to secure his services.
"I try not to think about that too much though because the more I think about it the more pressure I'll put on myself," he says with a wry smile.
"Obviously I want to repay the club for the faith they've shown in me to get me here, but if you think about too much outside stuff it can start to affect your performance and you don't have the right sorts of thoughts going through your head.
"Expectations do go up a bit now, but hopefully I can repay them for their faith."
Standing at 206 cm, Warnock will easily be the tallest player on Carlton's list and he's looking forward to working with, and competing against, the developing ruck division of Matthew Kreuzer, Cameron Cloke and Shaun Hampson.
In terms of on-field performance, the former Sandringham Dragon feels he's barely scratched the surface.
"I'd really like to develop into a good running ruckman capable of going up forward as well," he says.
"I want to get the ball myself and not just be a tap ruckman, I mean you've got to give your midfielders first use, but hopefully I can end up being similar to a Dean Cox-type of player who can almost be that extra onballer at times.
"To get to that point it's going to take a lot of hard work, I've got a lot to do before I end up there. But hopefully that's the way I'm going to evolve."
Warnock and his girlfriend, Perth native Hannah, are still working out the finer details of the huge move from one side of the country to the other, and while he doesn't know what it's like to be a true Blue just yet, he can't wait to pull on the famous guernsey for the first time.
"It's good, but it will take a little while for me to settle in; just getting used to the small things like new training venues, new times, new schedules and all that sort of stuff," he says.
"When you walk in to the club you see all the photos of all the past players and the premiership cups and you can feel that it's a club that is really rich in history.
"I haven't been out on the track and doing everything with the boys, so I haven't felt it (the sense of belonging) a lot that way. But fingers crossed I'll be out there against Richmond in round one playing in front of 80,000-odd people.
"I'll really feel what it's like then."
