Players from the Hawthorn Football Club will visit a number of schools around New Zealand next week as part of the Hawks’ HANZ-UP! AFL Program.

Hawks Premiership defender and New Zealand-born Trent Croad will lead a group of players including Xavier Ellis, Shane Savage and Jarrod Kayler-Thomson as well as Hawks staff in a series of skills clinics and school presentations to continue to raise awareness and participation of AFL in New Zealand.

The HANZ-UP! AFL Program - an acronym for Hawks Australia New Zealand - was launched in October 2009 and is expected to attracted over 5,000 children to participate in the KiwiKick AFL skills program in New Zealand over the next 12 months.

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