The Queensland Reds have kicked off the first week of pre-season training a little differently this year.
Some of the guys have switched their footy boots for farm boots, heading west to visit communities in the grip of drought, get their hands dirty with farmers and throw a footy around with locals.
The Reds to Regions tour sent several team members to each of the 22 regional hubs involved from Monday to Wednesday, including head coach Brad Thorn and assistants Jim McKay, Peter Ryan and Cameron Lillicrap.
Hamish Stewart and Harry Hoopert dropped into Roma, and spent their time hanging out with the Roma Echidnas, stayed on-farm with Shaun Nolan, and attended the Roma store sale on Tuesday morning where they experienced the selling action from the catwalk with the Landmark team.
Having both grown up on properties on the Darling Downs, the guys said it was great to get back out into regional areas and experience something different.
"Most towns like these only have rugby league so we've come out and tried to bring rugby union as a young kids sport as well and build the grass roots all the way through," Mr Stewart said.
Reds head coach Brad Thorn said the team had been excited to travel around the state and connect with the hard-working people in regional areas.
"At the heart of everything we're trying to do is to help these men grow in character and overall, we're there to connect and contribute to the local community."
