10 April - Six Indigenous boys from the Goulburn Murray hopped on planes and ventured off to Cairns for the Diversity Cup Hosted by AFL Cairns. One teenager, Kyle Clarke, immediately stood out as being a leader on and off the field and was selected as captain of the KickStart Victorian Team.
The first day involved an opening ceremony, getting settled in to their rooms and a BBQ dinner welcoming all teams and staff to the Diversity Cup with the first game starting tomorrow.
11 April - The Victorian team suffered on the first day of play losing their two games against South Australia and Western Australia.
The Victorian KickStart team’s first game was against South Australia In which two of our own Rhys Damon and Matthew Walker kicked One goal each. Sadly we were defeated by South Australia by 8 points. Three of the Goulburn Murray boys landed themselves in the team’s best with Kyle Clarke named second best, Matt Walker fourth best and Tyrin Atkinson named as the team’s fifth best player.
The second game was against reigning premiers WA and we lost by 17 points. Matthew Walker kicked one goal and Kyle Clarke (Captain) was again amongst the best players.
The rest of the day involved recovery and a break down and discussion of each game with both positives and negatives covered as well as what everyone individually and a group could improve on.
12 April - After two losses on the first day Victoria came out blazing on the second to defeat Queensland by 31 points in the morning.
Kyle Clarke kicked one goal and Matthew Walker, Kyle Clarke and Rhys Damon were amongst the best players.
The team’s renewed confidence carried through to Game 4 against Northern Territory. An exciting 20 points each tie resulted and Jerome Sorgel kicked 1 goal. Walker, Clarke and Sorgel were in the five best Victorian players.
13 April - We bounced back on the third day to beat NSW/ACT comfortably by 32 points. Kai Madgwick kicked a goal and with Matthew Walker was amongst our best players.
After five games we were placed in 4th position which meant a semi final against South Australia who finished third.
14 April - Finals fever had begun and our confidence hadn’t dwindled, our Semi-Final face off against SA ended with us taking a comfortable 24 point win putting us through to the Preliminary Final against Northern Territory.
In the Preliminary Final the weather was on our side and NT couldn’t keep a strong grip on the ball with the wet and rainy conditions and we triumphed by 9 points to reach the Grand Final against the reigning premiers Western Australia.
WA had been the dominant team all carnival and we headed back to our meeting room to discuss game plans and tactics on how we could overcome them.
15 April - The day had arrived and it was time to face WA for the title of premiers. WA came out strong and we trailed by 5 points at half-time. Over half time they ran all over us and while we tried to hang on it seemed that WA just kept kicking goals and extending their lead to eventually finish with a lead of 44 points to take out the title and be their 5th straight win.
The Victorian boys were disappointed they lost but still proud that they were able to represent their State and make the Grand Final.
As I observed from the sidelines there are a few things I learnt; this carnival was more than just trying to show off their football skills but was equally about the thrill and proud feeling of representing their state, culture and family.
All boys want to be future leaders and role models to the indigenous youth and it didn’t matter where you were from or what tribe and family because when they were together they were one unit one tribe one family the VIC/TAS family.
Kailem Harrison
AFL Barrawan Trainee
AFL Goulburn Murray
Last Modified on 04/11/2015 11:12