Western Bulldogs players Easton Wood, Jordan Roughead and Liam Picken visited the school on Thursday, as part of the the team’s two-day AFL Community Camp.

Roughead said it was “unreal” to return to Ballarat, where he grew up, and was hoping for a big turnout at Mars Stadium on Saturday for the Bulldog’s pre-season hit out against Hawthorn.

“We want to be a pretty big part of the community here as a club and hopefully we can grow our Ballarat supporter base and get as many people along to watch what should be a great game of footy,” he said.

“It’s really good that there are some guys around the footy club that have such a strong connection to the place – we do love coming back here and hopefully the community loves us coming here as well.”

The Western Bulldogs have a busy schedule with a string of school clinics on Thursday, followed by junior football club and community group visits, a training session and a trip up to Hamilton on Friday ahead of Saturday’s game.