While most of us were beginning our day with a morning coffee to get out of a morning slumber, there was no such slow or easy start to the day for the Hawthorn players.

At 8.30am sharp, the group headed out onto the oval at the Ricoh Centre on a very overcast Melbourne morning to get stuck into a big training session that would last three hours.

Beginning with a standard warm-up of jogging, running and light skills, the coaches then took the reins to put the players through a number of skills and concept drills before ending the session with match simulation.

The drills varied from confined areas of the group and in groups to full ground drills focusing on ball movement.

Check out the best photos from the session below.

Jarryd Roughead shows off his skills by going one-handed.

Liam Shiels and Dallas Willsmore one-on-one in a marking contest.

The skipper, Luke Hodge looks as composed as ever with ball in hand as he looks up the field.

Will Langford and Jonathan Simpkin hone their skills.

Jed Anderson stays active on the mark during some match simulation.

Langford fires off a quick handball before Brendan Whitecross can apply pressure.

Alex Woodward is very clean at ground level and this time was no exception.

It's great to see Whitecross back in action.

Josh Gibson pushes hard to make himself an option during game play.

The race is on between James Frawley and Zac Webster for the footy.

Paul Puopolo takes a quick breather.

Cyril Rioli calls for the footy.

Luke Breust looks for a teammate as he runs up the wing.

Sam Mitchell in action.