WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following article contains names and/or images of people who are deceased.

Jeremy McGovern is an established AFL star, with four All-Australian blazers and a premiership medallion to his name, but the first of his football experiences came on a red dirt oval, in a tiny town called Warburton just south of the Gibson Desert.

The Aboriginal community is situated in the near-centre of Australia, 1,600 kilometres from Perth and 600 kilometres into the vast stretch of West Australian desert, with an average temperature of almost 40 degrees … or ‘stinkin’ hot’ as McGovern says.

Warburton – accessible only by permit – has a population of just over 500, and almost all of these Indigenous peoples speak the Ngaanyatjarra language. This is the place McGovern called home from age 10 to age 12.

“It was a complete culture change, scenic change, lifestyle change, everything,” McGovern told westcoasteagles.com.au.

“So, extremely grateful in the end now, looking back on it, that I got to spend some time up there and get a greater understanding of Indigenous culture and the challenges that Indigenous people go through.

“It was a really big eye opener for us, did a lot of different things that most kids don’t do at that age, went out hunting and shooting things purely to eat, it wasn’t a game thing, it was more to feed the community.

“Really looking back on it and growing up a little bit, it has been a massive part of my life and the way I view things and see things and try to help in that space.

“It was one of the greatest things I’ve done in my life, is live up there and get a better understanding.”

With the land remote and vast, McGovern was often left to his own devices, as his Dad begun to set up programs in remote Indigenous communities, later known as Clontarf.

His “second Dad”, Karnigie, helped him to understand the lay of the land and cultural boundaries, as well as how to hunt and live in rural outback Australia.

“Karnigie was pretty much our second Dad up there, so my old man was running around to all the communities and running programs,” McGovern said.

“So, we were left in town and Karnigie was the one that taught us and showed us not to step on anyone’s toes up there, it was taken very seriously up there.

“I changed my name when I was up there, because an elder passed away with the name Jeremy, so I had to be called Kumana. Or I got to make my name up actually and I called myself Rocky.

“Because I loved the movie Rocky Balboa, the boxing movie – thanks mum and dad for letting me do that,” he laughed.

“Just things like that, that’s how serious it was, I was called Kumana for pretty much the whole two years I was up there.”

At age 10 McGovern's experience was a culture shock for a young boy who had spent the first decade of his life in Perth.

“There was no doors on houses, no windows on houses, there was no fresh produce in the town,” McGovern recalled.

“They still hunted with traditional methods, they were using spears and boomerangs, there was a couple of guns going around but not heaps.

“Everything was still very raw and the whole town was still the full Ngaanyatjarra language, so a little bit of English, but the full Ngaanyatjarra language, so we had to learn a little bit.

“It was just the holistic change from Western Culture down here, the luxuries that we’ve got.

“There wasn’t aircons in houses, and it was stinkin’ hot up there. It was like you were a different world.

“We tried to respect them and their culture as much as possible, and we learnt heaps and we were embraced with open arms up there which was awesome.

“I wouldn’t change it, it’s one of the greatest things that’s happened to me in my life and I’m so grateful I got to spend some time up there, obviously with my family, but being embraced by the locals up there and got to see some cool things and learn some cool things.”