The West Coast Eagles offered a group of talented Aboriginal footballers from Western Australia’s Martu region a rare opportunity to tour its training facilities and play a curtain raiser fixture at Domain Stadium last week.

West Coast indigenous liaison officer greeted the athletes from Punmu, Kunawarritji, Kiwirrkurra, Warralong, Nullagine, Parnngurr and Jigalong to the club with a traditional welcome to country ceremony before emerging Eagles Liam Duggan and Malcolm Karpany took time out to of their busy schedule to discuss their football journey.

The players opened up about the challenges and experiences they had faced to date while providing some insight to the training and nutrition requirements for AFL footballers.

Duggan spoke specifically about the difficulty of moving from Victoria to WA to chase his AFL dream and Karpany went into detail about his indigenous background and family connections.

Former Eagle come West Coast game development manager Adam Selwood also visited the group to wish the players well for their upcoming Western Desert Shield curtain raiser.

In preparation for the curtain raiser, the teams received their jumpers during a special presentation ceremony at the Department of Sport and Recreation, where Selwood, Narkle, West Coast schools and community coordinator James Grabski and Eagles game development coordinator Kim Hannah attended to show their support on behalf of the club.

The teams fought out a tight contest on Sunday ahead of West Coast’s clash with Greater Western Sydney.

After their match, the players formed a guard of honour for the AFL sides as they ran onto Domain Stadium’s hallowed turf.  

The club is proud to work with Ngurra Kujungka to assist in providing sport and recreation related opportunities that deliver broad outcomes for the people of the Western Desert.