HAWTHORN forward Jarryd Roughead has no intentions of recasting himself as a defender in 2011 and is confident a strong pre-season will do wonders for his accuracy in front of goal this year.

Roughead, 24, booted a respectable 53.46 last season, but robbed himself of a greater return with some indifferent kicking from set shots at times. 

A perceived need for tall timber to shore up the Hawks' backline led to some off-season speculation the 193cm forward was on the move to the other end of the ground, but he dispelled that notion on Tuesday.

"I think I'll stay up forward," Roughead said when asked if a change in his job description was on the cards ahead of the club's 2011 campaign.

"Obviously if we have injuries I might be required to go down back, but I've been training up forward all pre-season.

"We've had four months to work on new [kicking] techniques and we've simplified it and got it back to a more natural kicking [action]."

Roughead addressed the media from Hobart, which the club was visiting as part of its Telstra AFL Community Camp.

While his own situation won't undergo any significant changes the same can't be said for Luke Hodge, who will lead the Hawks into battle this season after taking over the captaincy from Sam Mitchell late last year.

"He's been great," Roughead said of the new skipper.

"He learned a fair bit off Mitch over the last few years.

"We don't expect [radically] new types of leadership from Hodgy, but obviously he's going to bring his own style and he's just looking forward to leading the boys out there this year.

"Mitch and Hodgy have both been great leaders over the last few years, but I suppose with Mitch starting his family now it was probably the right time to step away and now Hodgy's stepped in and he's been great."

The Hawks' community camp will conclude with an intra-club match at Aurora Stadium in Launceston on Friday.