PORT ADELAIDE’s players are aiming to climb a premiership mountain this season and they are helping a group of inspired community members climb a mountain of their own with a donation towards a charity climb.

The iCMLf Kilimanjaro Climb for a Cure will see a group of 25 people linked to the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute undertake a nine-day trek up Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to help raise money towards finding a cure for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia.

Under the AFL Players Care initiative, players contribute $50 of their match fee each week towards charities.

Half of the money is donated to the AFL Players’ Association official charity partner, Ladder, to tackle youth homelessness, while the rest is contributed to the AFL Players Care fund which is then distributed to clubs so that players can support other charities they are passionate about.

On Sunday, Port Adelaide co-captain Tom Jonas and vice-captain Hamish Hartlett presented Doctor Tim Hughes with a $5,000 cheque towards the Kilimanjaro climb he will be taking in October.   

“It’s my privilege today as a representative of the Port Adelaide Football Club and the AFL Players’ Association and the wider playing group to donate this cheque to Dr Tim Hughes for the work he’s doing in the fight against leukemia,” Jonas said.

“Basically, this is for the Climb for a Cure, where they’re going to climb Mount Kimananjaro

“There’s a crew of about 25 people who are paying their own way to get over there and raising money along the way which is going to go, hopefully, towards the battle in finishing off this disease.”

Dr Hughes thanked Jonas and his teammates for the donation.

He said he hoped to get some fitness tips from the Power team ahead of the trek.

“We’re doing a lot of walks in small groups and focussing on the steeper climbs around here, but they’re not quite Kilimanjaro,” Dr Hughes joked.

“This is by far our biggest donation so far and it’s going to take us a long way towards climbing Kilimanjaro and a long way towards a cure for Leukemia, which was a fatal disease 25 years ago.

‘We’ve made really good progress today but we need to get a bit further to get to a cure.

“That’s what this is all about.”

The 25-person team includes patients, researchers, doctors and others who support finding a cure.