LAST year, Carlton's AFLW program tore it all up, and started again.

External review, new coach, new head of footy, a move to day training, the works.

There were some bright spots through the season – a thumping 53-point win over West Coast on the road, grinding out a five-point win against Sydney – but the playing group tired as the months progressed, losing the last four games of the season.

The new-look Carlton finished 12th, winning four of 10 games and recording a final percentage of 86.

How are these second-year Blues handling the next stage of their development?

AFL.com.au was invited to spend a day with Carlton. Read on for the first half of our behind-the-scenes feature.

THE CAMP

About an hour north of Melbourne sits Strath Creek, a small town of a couple of hundred people at most, nestled in the bush off the Hume Freeway.

A couple of dirt tracks later off the main road sits the Village Green, a most unlikely retreat space which had been carefully manicured by the parents of former Australian test cricketer Chris Rogers.

It's a beautifully maintained oval, surrounded by a white picket fence more commonly found in the English countryside, with the aptly named Mt Buggery looming over one end of the ground.

Now cared for by the parents of former AFL footballers Tom and Ed Phillips, goal-posts have been added, while the walls of the pavilion with two long wooden tables are adorned with a curiously eclectic mix of cricket and football memorabilia – an autographed Pat Cummins top, a framed print of Keith Miller (aged 19), a signed Richmond AFLW guernsey and a small framed photo from Tom's debut.

It's here that Carlton's AFLW program has landed for three days, players and staff alike hunkering down in bunk beds.

The first night saw the group broken up into four teams – led by senior players Gab Pound, Jess Good, Harriet Cordner and Darcy Vescio – competing in a chaotic "Olympic games" partly to determine just who would be able to sleep in the "homestead" up the hill, with Pound’s crew emerging triumphant.

But Thursday was main training day, and as players emerged into the dining room for breakfast at 7am – nothing too fancy, cereal, toast and fruit, with a handful of pod coffee machines working overtime – the focus was evident.

An hour later, the temperature may have read six degrees, but the more trusted "feels like" sat at an icy 1.4, as trainers swaddled in navy blue puffers, hoodies and beanies strapped ankles and warmed up backs and hamstrings on the massage tables outside.

Players were told to warm up however best suited them – a group of seniors headed for the "gym" up the hill, dodging a litany of kangaroo poo in the thick grass as they made for a green shed, decked out with exercise bikes, ski erg machines, weights, mats and medicine balls.

Peterson, slamming a 4kg ball into the ground, managed to bust it open, posing for a club media pic with a wide grin.

Draftee Lila Keck – normally a source of buzzing energy – sat quietly for quite possibly the only time all day, reviewing notes around game plans and structures before the main training session, ex-Pie Tarni Brown holding onto a piping hot cup of tea for dear life as she did the same.

The Moody twins, Breann and Celine, are united for the first time at AFLW level after the latter moved from the Dogs. They did their prep before ducking off to the local store for a "proper" boost of caffeine, returning near-identical in their white training caps and large coffees, Celine wearing a ponytail and Brea opting for a low bun.

A series of silly, on-going competitions pervaded the camp, continuing the battle from the night before, in a push for fun competitiveness. Everyone had to wear lanyards with a form of ID, only a smattering of licences dated prior to 1997 remaining among the group as a sign of the side’s youth.

Pegs appeared and disappeared on random pieces of teammates' clothing, and only first names – not the all-pervasive footy nicknames – could be used outside of training. The team headed up by Cordner was judged the overall winner by the end of the three-day camp, despite having missed out on rights to the homestead on the first night.

Coach Mathew Buck brought the group together around a large sheet of material printed with the outline of a football oval, using tennis balls as markers to talk through structures.

"Take your lanyards off, it's time for business," he yelled, summoning the group.