To see just what our 'Bruses' get up to on their journey to Alice Springs, Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas joined the Aboriginal AFL Academy on what Eugene Warrior and his playing group have christened the 'Brus Bus' as they begin their journey north to play Clontarf in Alice Springs...

The Aboriginal AFL Academy Adventure

It’s been a whirlwind start to the year!

High intensity games, a trip to China, membership records, and a couple of disappointing losses just to keep it real!

But today’s agenda is different.

As the Power lads prepare to do battle with an improving Melbourne outfit in Alice Springs, twenty-two excited, young, impeccably dressed young men from our SAASTA Aboriginal AFL Academy loaded themselves into a bus to commence a journey every bit as important as the one their higher profile AFL counterparts are facing.

Over the next five days, these impressive young lads (aged 15-17 years) will spend 17 hours travelling through Port Augusta, Coober Pedy and Indulkana in the APY Lands before arriving in Alice Springs where they will meet and play against the local Clontarf Academy on Saturday morning. They will then turn around and make the return trip back to Adelaide.

Surrounded by Port Adelaide’s revered Aboriginal leader Paul Vandenbergh and his team of Byron Pickett, Wade Thompson, Academy coach Eugene Warrior, Mark Clayton and Steve Allen, the Academy boys will meet with young children from remote communities all the way up to Alice.

My job is to try and capture these moments in words. I will be ably assisted by young Academy gun Anthony Stengles who will be snapping pics on our brand new Nikon camera kindly donated by our good mates at Harvey Norman.

If we miss anything important, I’m sure the good folk from Today Tonight who are also following the trip and will be bringing you our journey, will cover the gaps.

After a quick comfort stop at Bolivar (of all places), we’re on our way to Port Augusta!

Stay tuned.

Port Augusta

Our first cultural experience.

As we roll into the car park of the spectacular new community sports centre in central Port Augusta, we are welcomed by several members of the local community at the tail-end of celebrations for Reconciliation week. Expecting 100 kids from the local schools for a footy clinic, the sight of Aunty Noelene, a respected keeper of the Northern Flinders Ranges, stoking a fire pit full of traditional Aboriginal food, was somewhat unexpected. 

Having recovered from the cultural insult of the CEO rejecting her offer of Kangaroo tails and damper, Aunty Noelene proceeded to tell us her story of family and connection to the land she loves. With family ties to Adam Goodes, Troy and Shane Bond and ‘Socky’ Ryan, who Noelene explains was coached by Fos Williams during his stint as coach at the Quorn Football Club, Noelene’s football pedigree is pretty good.

But her eyes light up when she realises that her cousin’s grandson Caleb Tree is a member of the Academy touring party.

Establishing that Caleb is the team’s pressure forward, she offers him $5 a goal, before returning to gently telling her story around the fire-pit for the spell bound travelling crew.

As a parting gift she breaks into a song fittingly about a Magpie, a Crow and the need to always respect your elders.

Lesson learned.

The boys sign her guitar, have a quick kick on the new Augusta Oval turf as the CEO quietly knocks off a Vegetarian Subway out of view of the Aunties, and then it’s back in the bus and off to spend a cold night on the floor of the Coober Pedy Area School gym.

It doesn’t get better than this!