WHAT do Adelaide’s Graham Johncock, Roo Daniel Wells and Power brothers Peter and Shaun Burgoyne have in common?

Aside from being some of the game’s brightest indigenous stars, the quartet shares another common bond.

They all played junior footy at the Mallee Park Football Club.

Located on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, Mallee Park has become one of the top breeding grounds for the AFL’s indigenous footballers.

“There have probably been 10 (AFL) players that have come from Mallee Park, which is unbelievable,” Peter Burgoyne said.

Along with Wells, Johncock and the Burgoynes, Mallee Park has produced more than a handful of other AFL players.

The long list includes young Kangaroos sensation Lindsay Thomas, Carlton livewire Eddie Betts Jr, dual premiership and Norm Smith Medal winner Byron Pickett and former Hawthorn and Power-listed players Harry Miller Jr and Elijah Ware.

“There must be something in the water over there,” Burgoyne said with a laugh.

The Peckers are in just their 26th season in the Port Lincoln Football League and have already won 11 A-grade premierships.

Mallee Park’s success stems down through to the juniors, where Byron Pickett and the brothers Burgoyne combined to claim an under 17s flag.

For Peter Burgoyne, footy in Lincoln is a way of life.

“The kids love football and as soon as they can walk they have a footy in their hand,” Burgoyne said.

“It’s just something over on the Eyre Peninsula that makes it a bit special.”

Jack Johncock, father of Adelaide defender Graham, is the Sports and Recreation Officer at Mallee Park.

The lovable character said the success of his son and nephews, Shaun and Peter Burgoyne, has had a huge impact on the Port Lincoln community.

“It’s a proud moment for the whole community, not just myself,” Johncock said.

“When you’ve been tied up with a club for a long time, and you put a lot of work into the club and the players, it’s great to sit back and see the results. On a Sunday afternoon, in your lounge room with a nice cold beer, watching your home-grown products running around, it’s a great feeling.”

Johncock said the Burgoyne brothers’ move to the city to play AFL has paved the way for Port Lincoln younger residents.

“Peter and Shaun Burgoyne were the first. They sort of pioneered the move from Lincoln to Adelaide and now every kid over here aspires to be the next Peter Burgoyne, Daniel Wells or Byron Pickett.”

“It’s not just the black kids of this town, but the white kids too. The whole community is very proud of the boys. Whenever you pick up a paper over here and there’s a story about any of the boys, it’s always ‘our Graham’ or ‘our Shaun’. They are great role models for the black community but also for the wider community.”

With a home ground longer than the MCG and just as wide, the Peckers’ running game is suited down to a tee.

“We’ve always had a pretty small side at Mallee Park, so our game is built on speed, which is what the AFL clubs today are looking for. The clubs want those little fellas that can sit in a forward pocket and kick three or four goals a game and we seem to produce them,” Johncock said.

Johncock expects the team to be around the mark again this season.

That is if SANFL club, the Port Adelaide Magpies, don’t recruit all of the Peckers’ promising young players.

Mallee Park falls under Magpie jurisdiction in terms of the state’s zone system.

Johncock urged the Crows and Power to check out the Mallee Park talent; before more potential AFL players were poached by interstate clubs.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids again, but our biggest problem is the Port Magpies stealing our players,” Johncock said with a laugh.

“One of our boys is heading over to Adelaide this weekend so the Magpies can have a look at him, young Derek Wanganeen. I think he’ll be the next big thing out of Lincoln. The likes of him, Philip Dudley and Terry Dudley, they’re going to be the next AFL players out of Lincoln.”

As a former Mallee Park junior, Crows star Graham Johncock hopes he can serve as inspiration for today’s young indigenous children, as the generation of Michael Long, Michael McLean and Gavin Wanganeen did for him.

“For guys like myself, the Burgoyne boys and Byron Pickett, it’s good to see the smile we put on the kids’ faces when we go back home,” Graham Johncock said.

“It makes you feel pretty good for what we have achieved and it shows them it can be done. If they really want it, with a bit of hard work, things could happen for them.”