The Fremantle Dockers headed north on Wednesday to kick off the annual Australia Post AFL Community Camps with a series of visits to schools and facilities in the Broome region.
Players including Tommy Sheridan, Lachie Weller, Connor Blakely, Nick Suban, Jon Griffin, Garrick Ibbotson, Matt Taberner, Ed Langdon and Hayden Crozier all boarded a flight to Broome early Wednesday morning for the two-day visit to the Kimberley.
In Broome, Suban, Ibbotson and Griffin visited St Mary’s Senior and Primary schools as well as the Bran Nue Day Aged Care Facility.
Taberner, Crozier and Langdon hit the road for 220km drive to visit Derby District High School, while Sheridan, Weller and Blakely went down the coast to La Grange Remote School, near Bidyadanga.
“We’ve just been having a kick with the kids at the moment and It’s been quite fun,” Sheridan said of his time at La Grange.
“We did a healthy lifestyle presentation for them, which focuses on what’s required to eat and how much rest you need and exercise.
“We were presenting to grade one’s to year 12s, which was bit of a challenge but once we got the footies out everyone was bubbly and full of energy. It’s 35 degrees out here but the kids are still running around and everyone is having a great time.”
Inspired by the Freo players’ presence, the kids all lined up to see who could take the most spectacular mark.
“They call it high flyers up here, the big species…blokes have been lining up and taking hangers on the teachers,” Sheridan said.
“We’ve just been lobbing them up so it’s been a lot of fun.”
For Sheridan, it was great to have the opportunity to take the game he loves to the most remote areas of the State.
“It’s a long drive (from Broome), but we love giving back in the community,” Sheridan said.
“It’s so much fun, these kids, and even the gardener, he hasn’t seen a Fremantle player in his whole life and it just makes me smile so much. So to get a pen out and sign his gardening top it's the easiest thing in the world.
“We feel quite privileged to come out to the community and do things like this and it’s worth the two-and-half-our drive.”
The players regrouped in Broome on Wednesday afternoon to hold an Auskick clinic at Peter Haynes Oval before speaking at a Sportsman’s Sundowner at the Broome Surf Life Saving Club.
On Thursday, Sheridan, Weller and Blakely will visit Broome North Primary and Roebuck Primary schools, while Taberner, Crozier and Langdon visit Broome Senior and Primary schools and Suban, Ibbotson and Griffin head to Cable Beach Primary School.
