This is the 25-year-old's first season with the Hawks, he said his two games this year at UTAS Stadium had been a welcomed addition to his inaugural season.

"I didn't play in Tassie at all with the Pies ... it's [this year] been enjoyable, the crowd's been really warming," Phillips said.

"You get that real local feel, which is nice and it's always pretty heavy with the Hawks fans which has been really pleasing.

"I've really enjoyed it - every game's been pretty competitive when we've been down there, and that's the way we like it.

"Hopefully we can have a few more, I enjoy the Tassie getaway."

The Hawks' last two clashes at UTAS Stadium saw the side complete a second-half comeback against a hungry Adelaide, before they had a second-half collapse of their own in a loss to North Melbourne.

While Phillips admitted the season hadn't gone the way the 17th-placed side had wanted, he was optimistic given the progress the Hawks had made across the season.

"I've really enjoyed being with this group of boys ... [we're] building something special hopefully in this second part of the year," he said.

"Sometimes the challenges ... can create some uncertainty and times where there's speed-bumps.

"It's been refreshing ... this is the chance at the moment - to start solidifying that core group of players.

"We're still throwing a lot of things out, assessing where we can get to in the short term and making sure we still have that long-term vision."

Tickets for Sunday's match were sold out by midday on Thursday, as UTAS Stadium gears up to host the Bombers for the first time in the stadium's history.

The pairing's last match in round one ended with the Hawks pulling a back-from-the-dead one-point comeback 13.13 (91) to 14.8 (92).

"It'll be really exciting for us to put on a show and really go out there an be fierce," Phillips said.

"Especially against the Bombers, [there's a] long rivalry between the two clubs and the ability for us to go down to Tassie and see if we can do what we did to them in round one would be really pleasing.

"Just to have a really good defensive focus I think - taking what we did from last week into this week and hopefully the rest of the season."

Hawthorn will have no shortage of confidence entering the bout, having pulled off the upset of the round against top-team Sydney by 38 points.

With the Hawks' previous two Tassie touts showing inconsistent play through a full game, Phillips hoped recent form would see the side put together a consistent and comprehensive effort.

"The main two things from that game [against Sydney] is the way we defended, our ability to defend as a unit and not be too focussed on defending individually," he said.

"Making sure we have composure ... really good patterns with how we defend and how we ran to allow us to press up and attack the contest really well."

Do you know someone who is contributing to Northern Tasmanian sport, whether through participating or assisting?

The Examiner's Junior Sports Awards, sponsored by Woolworths, provide acknowledgement of accomplishments by players, coaches, volunteers, teams and clubs across the region.

Nominations are open from Wednesday, April 14, and will close at midnight on October 4.

Entries must include a photograph of the entrant.