As new teammate Jarryd Roughead dribbled a left-foot banana through from 45 metres, the 30-year-old Hawthorn recruit reflected on the ground that had witnessed the start of his football journey.

“It’s actually in pretty good nick,” Mohr said. 

“I played a lot of cricket and footy here.

“There’s some memories - I was hoping to see a few of the old teachers but I’m not sure there’s many floating around - I know Mr Child’s still here somewhere so I might try and catch up with him.

“It’s good  - there’s some good memories, some bad ones, but all in all pretty good.”

A powerful key defender, Mohr was delisted by GWS at the end of the 2018 season with 48 games to his name, but was picked up by the Hawks in the rookie draft less than a month later. 

Having enjoyed a rare injury-free pre-season, the former Launceston back is itching to run out in the brown and gold and prove his critics wrong.

“I’m pretty excited to be at a new club and a new environment - and to get out there and prove the footy world wrong, that I can still do it,” he said.

“The Hawks have given me a lifeline and I’m just looking to repay the favour.”

Mohr was joined at Riverside by fellow Tasmanian Grant Birchall and a host of other Hawks on Friday as the club collaborated with Headspace to lift the lid on anxiety and mental health with students. 

Stuck on 245 games after two injury-ravaged seasons, Birchall will begin ball work with Mohr and the main group next week as he eyes a return in the second month of the campaign. 

“It’s nice to have another Tassie boy on the list - I was flying solo there for a while,” Birchall said. 

“For me [2019] is just getting back out on the park again, it’s been a while.

“It’s a bit of a different group now so I’m excited to play with some new players and see how far they can take us.

“We’re building chemistry and training really hard as a back six so hopefully we can build some really good synergy in the practice matches coming up.”

The Riverside visit marked the end of Hawthorn’s community camp’s Tasmanian leg, with the Hawks next set to return to the state on March 9 for a practice match against Richmond.