Hawthorn are confident they can turn their Aurora base in Launceston into a garrison rival clubs will dread.
Armed with swelling support in Tasmania and an impressive winning record there, the Hawks believe they can build a feared home citadel.
Hawthorn, which have won 12 of their past 16 games at Aurora Stadium, will be aiming for another notch when they face the unbeaten Sydney Swans at the ground on Sunday.
Hawk coach Alastair Clarkson said the club was hoping to build on its burgeoning Tasmanian membership but acknowledged many of the victories have not come easily,
“We hope that it’s become a little bit of a fortress for us,” Clarkson said on Saturday.
“We enjoy playing our footy there and we’ve played down there for a long period of time now so we should know the conditions pretty well.
“But they are always pretty tight arm wrestles – it’s not a high-scoring venue so it means it’s always a pretty solid contest, whoever we play.”
Clarkson said teams in Melbourne had no significant home ground advantage with only two stadiums available, the MCG and Etihad.
“The true benefit of Aurora is we play there four or five times a year and opposition sides get to play there once every two or three years.”
Hawthorn have been lifted by the return from a calf injury of skipper Luke Hodge.
“We’ve missed him terribly as any club in the competition would miss their captain,” Clarkson said.
“We haven’t had him for our first four games and we know we’re a much, much better side when he’s in it.
“We’re hoping he’ll get up and going and make a contribution for us tomorrow,” he said.
Clarkson admitted that he did not expect Hodge to be at his best tomorrow “but having said that I’ve seen him come back from injury and play some great games.”