Hawthorn’s AFLW group spent the back-half of last week in Cairns for pre-season camp, focusing on team bonding and exploring the local region.

Hawthorn AFLW Captain Tilly Lucas-Rodd spoke on the trip as a whole and what their highlights were over the four days.

The team had two training sessions at Cazaly’s Stadium across the four days spent in far north Queensland.

“Yeah we loved it, we came here on Thursday and did a bit of a kick and catch and gym,” said Lucas-Rodd.

“Today (Saturday) we had our main training our here. It was a bit rainy to begin with, but the sun came out, we love playing on this deck it’s perfect.

“We got to I guess put a few things in practice for when we play up here, we got lots of learnings so it was really good.”

Lucas-Rodd expressed the feeling amongst the group of enjoying being in Cairns, which the Hawks now claim as their second home.

“We love coming up here, I guess we’re trying to make it a home away from home,” they said.

“So we got to stay at the Cape York Girls House, spent some time together there, we went out and did some team activities yesterday and then today we got a morning off so we went and had a breakfast in Cairns and spent some time together.

“We really love being up here and just getting to connect as a group.”

For Lucas-Rodd, the best part was the elements of building a stronger team connection, from an exclusive talent show on Thursday night, to a day spend at Camp Barrabadeen doing a team-bonding workshop with Thrive and Connect.

“Well we did a bit of a ‘Got Talent’ that was really fun in small groups and then we got to spend time in those same groups at a team bonding activity at a camp,” said Lucas-Rodd.

“Probably the best part was a raft building, so we had to make some rafts as a group and it was a lot of mess when it got onto the water but that was heaps of fun together.”

Hawthorn will return to Cairns in October for the Week 9 clash with the Melbourne Demons on Thursday 24 October at Cazaly’s Stadium.

“Yeah I’m really excited,” said Lucas-Rodd.

“I think playing the Tigers up here last year was really fun, in the humid conditions it was a good game, so hopefully we can do the same against the Dees.

“We had a really good crowd with lots of locals down, which was a great atmosphere. We also got to spend some time in the community, so hopefully we can do all of that when we play the Dees later in the year.”

Watch Tilly's full interview on pre-season camp below.