Fremantle’s Next Generation Academy wrapped up a successful year with a round robin carnival for multicultural players on Thursday at Santich Park in Munster.

The carnival featured more than 100 year 7 and 8 players from four of Fremantle’s NGA regions, which included Peel, East Fremantle, South Fremantle and West Perth. 

It was the final major event for the NGA in 2018, which aims to identify and develop young talent, introduce school-aged children to community football competitions and feed into existing state and territory and national talent programs.

This includes multicultural players in the metropolitan region, who featured in Thursday’s carnival, as well as Indigenous players in the Kimberley.

“We want to engage with as many multicultural kids that we can and grow the game so today was a really important day,” said Fremantle NGA coach Tendai Mzungu.

“These kids are still quite young and are still developing their football. We’re just trying to give them the opportunity to grow and become better footballers.

“We want these kids to come through our academy and, hopefully, have a few graduates that become AFL players. 

“That’s the ultimate aim and it will be terrific to see players come from here at Santich Park and becoming a Fremantle-listed player.”

Fremantle currently has 10 concession signings with the club, and the club will have priority access to these players when they reach draft age.

This includes Tom Medhat, a multicultural player from West Perth, and Jason Carter, an Indigenous player from Wyndham, who will be eligible at the 2018 NAB AFL National Draft.

These players are developing under the guidance of Mzungu, who played 102 games for Fremantle between 2011 and 2016.

While the NGA has wrapped up its final football event before the summer, the work will continue to prepare to build on this progress.

“It’s been a great year. I’ve really enjoyed it and I’ve learnt a lot on the job,” Mzungu said.

“Programs like this, we’ll continue to run and we’ll keep working in with the elite talent.

“There are 10 concessions that we have signed and we’re looking to learn a bit more and put some programs in place to, hopefully, get them graduating and coming through as Fremantle players.”