The AFLW Indigenous Round acknowledges the significant contribution of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples to Australian Football and the broader community.
On Sunday night, the GIANTS will run out in the guernsey designed by Wiradjuri woman Leeanne Hunter.
Whilst I won’t be playing on Sunday night due to injury, a great friend and former teammate of mine, Kirby Bentley, has painted a pair of boots for me that signify the importance of the round.
Bentley is a proud Noongar woman who played 10 AFLW games across three seasons for both Carlton and Fremantle.
More recently, she has moved into the coaching space, appointed AFLW development and VFLW head coach at the Western Bulldogs.
A business mentor recognising Bentley’s artwork recently prompted her to launch new business Gnalla - a Noongar word which means ‘ours’ or ‘our’.
“In a nutshell, it means your world and my world coming together,” Bentley said.
“It’s not necessarily about education, it’s about sharing and creating conversation.”
Before designing the boots, she asked which of my values are most important. Each value has a symbol, represented in art form, that was then painted onto the boots.
The colours are based around the GIANTS’ orange and charcoal.
The archways symbolise people – the five members of my immediate family; while the six blue dots indicate tribe/family, representing my GIANTS family when I step out onto the ground.
Pulling on the boots is a huge honour, and I feel blessed to have such a great friend and strong First Nations woman design something so special.
Moving forward, Bentley believes in the importance of two-way learning.
She was exposed to the elite sporting environment through elite netball pathways from the age of 15.
“What it meant to be an elite athlete was already programmed in me, so transitioning into the AFLW system was a lot easier,” she said.
But that is not the case for many Indigenous players moving away from home.
“We’re not very good at ‘up and leaving’, and if we don’t have that support, we go home, we go back to our comfort zone which is with family.”
GIANTS Manager of Indigenous Diversity and Inclusion, former AFL player Malcolm Lynch, echoes Bentley’s sentiment.
At the GIANTS, Lynch wants to create a sustainable, long-term inclusive environment with strong support pillars for Indigenous players who relocate to play at the club.
“When people hear the word GIANTS, I want them to say, ‘It’s the place I want to be and the place I want to play my best footy,’” he said.
Lynch, originally from the Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin, recalls idolising players like Michael Long and Dean Rioli for their work both on and off the footy ground.
However, these same figures and pathways did not exist for his female cousins and nieces.
Lynch believes the AFLW Indigenous Round is a great opportunity to create a real pathway for the next generation of First Nations girls and women to be involved in football.
In addition, it is a way for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to engage in conversation.
“It’s a great opportunity for indigenous people to celebrate their culture, and for non-indigenous people to learn more.
“The more people engage, the more familiar they become, and the more understanding they have around Indigenous communities.”
The GIANTS will wear their specially-designed Indigenous jumper and celebrate the competition-wide Indigenous Round when they run out on to Manuka Oval on Sunday night to take on Carlton.
