Busso boys in Nic Nat's footsteps

Some of Busselton’s best young footballers joined their counterparts from across regional WA to take on the city kids in a first of its kind match.

Drew Dobell, Arlo Huxtable, Jackson Gower, Garry James, and Lakai Jennick joined the West Coast Eagles’ Naitanui Academy regional team at Optus Stadium for an exhibition against a metro academy team as a curtain raiser for the Eagles’ clash against St Kilda earlier in the month.

Academy coaches were impressed by the talent and skill on display from both sides, which spent the first half of the match neck-and-neck.

“Both teams displayed plenty of talent which continues to impress across the entire Naitanui Academy program. We are excited to see this event grow in the coming years,” Naitanui Academy Manager Chris Brown said.

“To integrate our regional players with our metro program and to see the incredible talent across our entire WA recruiting zones was fantastic. The regional staff have done a mountain of work to get our hub programs up and running, and it’s great to reward those players and coaches with opportunities like this.”

The metro side got the better of the regional boys in the second half.

The Naitanui Academy is part of a wider AFL ‘Next Generation Academies’ initiative, and serves as the Eagles’ latest attempt to lift up young indigenous and multicultural talent. They have Academy hubs set up in the South West, Goldfields, Wheatbelt, Great Southern and Pilbara regions.

Along with a stack of WAFL players, the Academy has produced four AFL players. Fremantle’s Neil Erasmus and Sebit Kuek, Richmond’s Sydney Stack, and Arthur Jones from the Bulldogs.

The Fremantle Dockers run a similar program in the Peel, Wheatbelt, Mid-West, and Kimberley regions.

Eagles Regional Programs Manager James Grabski said the Club placed a great emphasis on being alongside these young players on their football journeys, no matter where they are in WA.

“One of the objectives of our regional program is to provide opportunities for regional participants and community members that are as equivalent as possible to their metropolitan counterparts,” Mr Grabski said.

“For those young players to get the opportunity to play on a world class stadium, showcase their talent and have all of our game development staff watching and providing feedback on their game, offers tremendous support to their footy journey and is really special for those young men and their families.”

To be eligible to join the academy, players must be between 11 and 18 years old, and either indigenous or from a culturally or linguistically diverse background.