HULL KR winger Craig Hall believes the bonds being forged on their warm-weather training camp will serve them well in this season's on-field battles.
Currently out training in Tenerife with the rest of his Robins team-mates, Hall is one of the more senior figures in the squad.
With double training sessions and temperatures of 25 degrees to contend with, Hall admits the camp has gone exactly to plan.
And he hopes the off-field relationships being built up can serve his side well when the opening round arrives in two months.
"The team spirit is very good and the new blokes all feel at home," he told the Mail.
"Because we are together all week with each other, it helps with the team bonding. When we train at home, we all go our separate ways at the end of the day and we don't get as good a chance to bond with each other, not just the new players but with the rest of the squad.
"We have a little coffee club going at dinner time and it's good to bond with people like Greg Eden and Travis Burns.
"We have been down to the beach banana boating and things like that. That has been a great way to bring the new players closer."
It's the second successive year Craig Sandercock has swapped the cold of Hull for the sunshine of Tenerife before Christmas.
With plenty of drills and programmes to keep the players occupied, Rovers' focus is already on preparing for the new Super League season and the arrival of Catalan Dragons at MS3 Craven Park on February 3.
"Training in the sun has been perfect for us and lets us train well with the ball," added Hall.
"It is the most important week of pre-season with the skill work we are doing. It's been going very well.
"The facilities where we train are great. The pitch is superb and is prepared after every training session we have.
"We have a number of swimming pools to recover in afterwards at the hotel which is ideal for us."
Whilst Hall has helped make the new recruits welcome, as a new father, Hall is finding this week's camp tougher than some of his team-mates.
He admits it has been hard leaving his new-born daughter Layla and fiancé Kayleigh for a full week, but is trying to stay in touch whenever he has a break.
"I've been on Skype to speak to Kayleigh whenever I can, but Layla is missing me," he added.
"It has been very hard being away from them both.
"I didn't think I would miss them as much as I do but I'll soon be back home with them."
