On Thursday morning, a convoy of West Coast Eagles players, coaches and staff hit the road for the club’s annual AFL Community Camp.

With this year’s camp taking place in Northam, the hometown of skipper Darren Glass, the all-Australian captain was eager to head back to his former stomping ground for the annual camp.

“I think the last time I was at Northam Senior High was the day I left,” the captain said.

“But it was great to go back, I spent the first 15 years of my life in Northam, I’ve still got family there so it’s always good to head back.

“I even took a few of the boys to see my grandma while we were there.”

The players and coaches divided and conquered for the first day of camp, visiting 14 schools all over Northam and surrounding areas, where they spoke to students about healthy lifestyles, signed autographs and ran footy clinics.

In WA’s February heat, which was inevitably much more stifling inland in Northam than in Perth, the players hit the field with hundreds of students to pass on some football expertise.

“I spied a bit of talent at Northam Senior High School,” Glass commented.

“Quite a few of the young boys are pretty skilled. I don’t think any of them want to be full-backs though, so I don’t know if they wanted any of my advice. But they definitely had some talent.”

Meanwhile, Norm Smith medallist Andrew Embley paid a visit to students at Avonvale Primary School to take part in a Healthy Morning Tea event in conjunction with Foodbank.

As a dad and kitchen extraordinaire, Embley was keen to show the youngsters at Avonvale how to prepare a healthy breakfast.

“It’s sometimes difficult to believe that children within our state are not receiving a daily breakfast,” Embley said.

“Issues such as low income, remoteness and lack of knowledge mean that some students across WA go to school each day on an empty stomach.

“Foodbank run a School Breakfast Program across WA, which Avonvale PS joined a few years ago, so we’ve come along today to have a Healthy Morning Tea with the kids as part of the program.”

After the school visits wrapped up, the players and coaches made their way to Northam Recreation Centre, where more than 500 locals turned out for a dinner event with the club.

Among the squad and coaching group, John Worsfold appeared to be the main attraction, with the senior coach posing for more than 1,000 fan photos and signing over 3,000 autographs.

“This is the biggest turnout we’ve ever had for a Community Camp dinner event,” he said.

“It’s been a great night. Myself and a few of the other coaches and players have had panel discussions up on the stage, which have been hosted by Mark Nicoski.

“I think Nico should think about pursuing a career in TV presenting after footy, he knows how to work a crowd.”