The West Coast Eagles welcomed international students from Edith Cowan University into Domain Stadium’s inner sanctum for a behind the scenes look at Australia’s favourite game last month.

The students, who hailed from America, India, UK, Denmark, Germany, China, Brazil, Iran and South Africa, got themselves familiarised with the game by watching an entertaining video before Eagles schools and community coordinator James Grabski escorted the group to West Coast’s warm-up room to try and uncover their hidden football skills.

Grabski taught the students how to handball and kick a Sherrin.

“These students come from all over the world, so introducing them to a Sherrin football is very interesting and they usually have a bit of fun kicking it around,” Grabski said. 

“The shape, size, weight and technique of how to handball and kick a Sherrin football is so different to their traditional soccer or rugby footballs, so they really enjoyed trying something new.”

After an extensive kick around, the students toured the club’s high performance facilities before they found themselves in the West Coast Eagles Team Store, where they each received a voucher to help deck themselves out in blue and gold ahead of their live match experience.

The students received complimentary tickets to the club’s Round 21 clash with Carlton, which the Eagles won by 17 points.

ECU vice president of social activity Jason Duffin said the students loved the atmosphere at the game.

 “The students absolutely loved it, we’ve received amazing feedback,” Duffin said

“They had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the AFL game.”