In the long history of Australian football, players and CEOs have rarely been known to travel together on end-of-season trips.

But football is a changing game, and with Hawthorn in the midst of a study into its future training and administrative needs, CEO Stuart Fox invited Hawks players Jarryd Roughead, Liam Shiels and Jack Gunston to join him and board member, Richard Garvey, on a tour of some of the world’s elite sporting facilities.

Their mission was simple: to gather information that would help establish whether the Hawks’ long-term future lies at Waverley, or somewhere new.

“Having us there meant that we could come back and sell it to the players, and give a players’ perspective on certain ideas,” Gunston said.

Setting off in November, the group headed straight for London, watching England’s footballers beat Slovenia 3-1 at Wembley in Wayne Rooney’s 100th match, before opening the business end of their trip with a tour of St Georges Park, the national team’s sprawling training base.

Set on a whopping 330 acres north of Birmingham, the set-up dwarfs anything Australia has to offer.

There are 12 outdoor pitches, including one built and maintained to the exact specifications of Wembley, along with a full-sized indoor pitch.

Next to that is a multi-purpose indoor sports hall and running track, swimming pools, an altitude room, fully catered dining room, and even a Hilton hotel.

“They’ve got so much space there, they’re thinking of putting in a nine-hole golf course,” Roughead said.

Used by all 24 of England’s football teams, the pitches are closely guarded.

Roughead, Shiels and Gunston were welcome in the gym for a weights session, but use of the grounds was out of the question.

“We had to run on the road,” Roughead said.

“They’ve got 13 pitches there, and we weren’t allowed on one.”

While St Georges Park had been impressive, the players were simply blown away by the following day’s visit to Premier League club Tottenham’s base in Enfield.

Still near-new, having been built in 2012 at a cost of almost $90 million, it boasts 15 grass pitches, including four dedicated solely to the first team.

In addition, there are two artificial pitches, one of them indoors.

But what stood out were the surrounds.

“They’ve got a security hub at the gate, there’s a tree cut to the exact logo of the club,” Roughead said.

“They’ve got 24 ground staff, which is just ridiculous; we’ve got two or three.

“You knew you were in a really good place as soon as you rocked up.”

And while those details may seem irrelevant to the business of playing football, the effect on players can’t be overstated.

Tottenham’s expansive car park – a source of jealousy to Hawks players used to fighting gym goers and coffee drinkers for the few spaces at Waverley – along with private restaurants, spacious surrounds and manicured gardens, add up to create an ideal training environment.

“You’re walking into these gated communities, almost,” Roughead said.

“They’ve got everything you need.

“You know what you’re there for, which is work, and they make it enjoyable as well.”

By comparison, visits to the training bases of Arsenal and Aston Villa, although still inspiring, didn’t quite instill the same sense of wonder.

Now 16-years-old, Arsenal’s facility at London Colney is about to undergo a large-scale renovation.

Much like the Hawks, the club has quickly outgrown what was viewed as the league’s best headquarters when it first opened – such is the rapid progress of modern sport.

For a Premier League giant, financing such a project is relatively straightforward; the cost of the original set-up was more than funded by the transfer fee from a single player – Nicolas Anelka to Real Madrid for $45 million in 1999.

Even so, there were lessons to be learned.

“The care and respect they have for that facility – they don’t have a blade of grass go through the changerooms at all,” Gunston said.

“It’s part of their culture, and I think their manager (Arsene Wenger) drives that.

“From the outside it looks a lot older, but you walk in and it still looks brand new.”

Shiels and Gunston were particularly taken by the ‘transition room’ between outdoors and in.

“They walk in, they’ve got their boot room, so their boots don’t go inside, the next part is their laundry area where they take all their clothes off, so they pretty much just walk to their locker in their skins,” Gunston said.

Wenger’s fanaticism about cleanliness extends to visitors, with the Hawthorn delegation given shoe coverings to wear during their tour.

Before departing each night, the Frenchman is said to walk around the building to make sure it has been left spotless.

And, perhaps a tip for Alastair Clarkson, his office is strategically located near the players’ entrance.

“He’s asked for the hedge to be cut low outside his window so he can see any players coming in late,” Roughead said.

And although their home is a little older, Arsenal players certainly aren’t missing out.

Like its counterparts, the complex features multiple pitches – 10, to be exact – plus one indoors for rainy days.

This is a concept only recently springing to life in the AFL, presenting the players with food for thought.

“You see how much our ground can get chopped up during winter,” Roughead said.

“If we could limit the time spent on one oval, it would stay in better condition.

“You could also practice a lot of other things.

“You could split the forwards, backs and midfielders up and they’d have a lot more space to work in.”

Common also to all three EPL clubs was the element of privacy, with pitches hidden away behind secure gates, high fences and acres of land, away from the prying eyes of opposition spies.

“Each venue we went to, we took different things out of it,” Shiels said.

“Arsenal’s culture was probably one of the things.

“Tottenham’s facility had the ‘wow’ factor. It was the best grass I’ve ever seen.”

Already stocked with ideas after their visits in Britain, leg two of the journey presented even more to mull over.

Where England’s spaces for physical practice sessions had been a standout, in the USA, visits to NFL clubs provided greater insight into the ‘classroom’ element of professional sport.

“The culture and the set-out of the NFL clubs compared to the EPL clubs is probably a little bit closer to the AFL,” Shiels said.

“The NFL is all about structures and things like that, which is the way AFL has gone in the past few years.

“So in terms of meeting rooms and learning spaces, the needs are similar.”

A tour of the New York Jets’ plush complex in New Jersey showed exactly what could be achieved.

It features 10 classrooms and a 160-seat auditorium, each seat with its own foldout writing table, and purpose built to hold the weight of enormous NFL players.

The centre also places an emphasis on cleanliness – a directive that comes straight from the very top.

“We thought Arsenal was clean…the Jets owner (Woody Johnson) is the owner of ‘Johnson & Johnson,’” Gunston said.

“He has hand sanitiser on every corner.

“It’s the cleanest place you’ll ever see.”

At the Baltimore Ravens came the rare chance to get up close to some of the NFL’s stars, as the Hawks’ locker room tour coincided with team practice.

“We walked through and there were a few of their boys in there, trying to talk Aussie,” Gunston said.

Here, there were other examples of little things that could make players’ working lives that bit more enjoyable and convenient: a jukebox and pinball machines against the walls, and a barber visiting once a week to dish out haircuts.

Amongst the busy schedule, there was time for some fun, with the group taking in two NBA games, and an NFL clash between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys.

That match will prove most memorable thanks to the spectacular catch taken by Giants rookie Odell Beckham Jr, replayed all around the world.

And, when travelling with the CEO, it’s particularly important to stick to the off-season fitness program, something the three players managed despite freezing temperatures in New York, and the constant darkness of London.

“We had to make sure we were in good shape when we got back, or the CEO might have gotten in trouble,” Gunston said.

Roughead quick to point out that these efforts didn’t go completely unrewarded.

“We did sample a couple of ales,” he said.

“We were still on holiday, so you’ve got to!”

The verdict

Nothing in life comes for free, and for Roughead, Shiels and Gunston, the price of an around-the-world holiday was a nerve-wracking date with the Hawthorn board on return, to present their findings.

“It’s obviously a bit daunting for a 22, 23-year-old to do that, but it was a good experience to be able to present to them what we learned,” Gunston said.

“When you see a few head nods going around the room you know you’re saying the right thing.”

And while a final decision on whether to renovate Waverley or move to a new facility has not yet been reached (the feasibility study is ongoing), the Club’s decision makers now have another valuable collection of insights on which to draw.

“It’s good that the players can have some input on how we think the club should look in five, 10 years, however long it is,” Gunston said.

 “Whether we can extend here or whether we have to build another one, I’m sure it’s going to be pretty good.”

“Hopefully we’re still around when it happens,” Shiels said.