As Collingwood celebrates NAIDOC week, the club have hosted the Garbutt Magpies at the club for a few days.

The Garbutt Magpies are a football team from Townsville, Queensland who have a strong connection to the club. In 2020, Mason Cox and Geva Mentor travelled to Townsville to meet the members of the team and take a tour of their facilities. 

Led by Randal Ross, Chairman of the Magpies Sporting & Cultural Association, a group of 22 boys visited the AIA centre on Wednesday and Thursday to experience what its like inside an AFL club. For a lot of the boys, this was their first time leaving Townsville. 

As part of the celebrations, Mason Cox was given a traditional skin name from their local area and officially welcomed into their community.

AFLW midfielder Sarah Rowe joined Mason Cox in running a clinic on Wednesday morning, allowing the boys to utilise the facilities.

The team watched AFL main training on Thursday morning before performing traditional dances to the playing group and staff. 

To complete their visit, the group will be part of the guard of honour as the AFL team run onto the MCG to face North Melbourne this Saturday afternoon on the MCG.