A GROUP of Port Adelaide players and staff have made their way to Geelong to take part in a unique AFL summit aimed at celebrating the diversity in the game.

For the first time, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural players from both AFL and AFLW will participate in the four-day program that focusses on celebrating and strengthening cultural identity.

The last time Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural players from across the competition came together for such an event was in Adelaide in 2019.

Port Adelaide’s contingent includes men’s players Aliir Aliir, Junior Rioli, Lachie Jones and Jase Burgoyne and women’s players Gemma Houghton, Tess Doumanis, Liquoya Cockatoo-Motlap and Litonya Cockatoo-Motlap, as well as senior coaches Ken Hinkley and Lauren Arnell, CEO Matthew Richardson and General Manager – Football, Chris Davies.

Indigenous Liaison Officer Shaun Burgoyne and General Manager – Media, Daniel Norton are also taking part.

“It’s really exciting. It’s the first time AFLW players have joined in the summit and the opportunity we have is to get to know each other more than just on the field,” Houghton said.

“It’s a safe place here and we’re really looking forward to the next few days together building on what we’ve done together and trying to make it a better game for us all.”

The proud Yindjibarndi is a strong leader on and off the field for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as an ambassador for the game and through her work in Port Adelaide’s community programs.

She said she hoped the female cohort would go back to their clubs feeling supported by the AFL, the AFLPA and their colleagues across the competition.

“I think we’ll go away with confidence knowing that our voice has been heard,” Houghton explained.

“We have an opportunity to really voice what we have and our ideas to make this game a lot better and safer for us all.

“We’ve seen amazing young players come through and to be a senior player and have a lot of young girls on this camp with us, and what they can do for the future of our game and what they’re already doing for the competition at their own clubs, it’ll give them confidence in going back to their clubs and being leaders and standing up when they need to stand up.”

The Player Summit offers a platform for players to discuss matters of importance to them and how the AFL and the AFLPA can work collaboratively to best support change across the industry that will impact positively on their experiences in the game, on and off field.

The AFL says it is an important opportunity to listen and learn from the players and work on ensuring the game is more respectful and inclusive for all.

For Aliir, it was an exciting opportunity to be involved and to learn from people of different cultural backgrounds.

“I’m proud to be here in the first time we’ve had our multicultural guys and girls here,” Aliir said.

“It’s very exciting to be able to come here and share our experiences and our cultures and also to be able to learn from the Indigenous players, for them to share their cultures too.

“You can see the way the game has grown, especially from my first year – they didn’t have stuff like this.

“To be able to get this running again, in particular with lots of multicultural and Indigenous kids coming through to be able to have summits like this, to help them be able to be comfortable with their culture and where they’re from, I think it’s just elite for the game going forward.”

As part of the event, participants will train together and take part in player-led cultural development sessions and traditional cultural activities with local community groups.

Players will also run a super clinic for local participants aged 5-18.

Port Adelaide chief executive officer Matthew Richardson said it was great to see the club so well represented from across its football programs.

His highlight were two cultural education sessions on Thursday afternoon.

"These were really interesting educational sessions and they really feed into not only the work we've been doing at the club this year on diversity and inclusion, which has been a really important part of the success of the integration of our AFLW group," Mr Richardson explained. "But also more broadly this fit in with our strategic priorities in the community space around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs and Multicultural programs.

"It was a great event, a really good opportunity to come together with colleagues from across the league, and Port Adelaide was well represented."