Over 3,000km will be travelled this week as Collingwood’s players embark on community camps throughout Australia.
Wangaratta, Tennant Creek and the City of Monash will all host the Magpies’ finest, with scheduled filled with community engagements including clinics, meet and greets and media opportunities.
“Our players will visit schools, local clubs, nursing homes and run super clinics while also promoting healthy lifestyles and leadership,” Collingwood’s Community Engagement manager Harmit Singh told Collingwood Media.
“The camps give our players a wonderful opportunity to connect with the community through the game of Australian Football.”
While the majority of the group will stay in Victoria, four players and coach Nathan Buckley will board a plane and venture to a remote area in the Northern Territory.
James Aish, Brodie Grundy, Darcy Moore and Jackson Ramsay will spend the best part of the week in Tennant Creek.
The town is 508km north of Alice Springs and falls in Collingwood’s Next Generation Academy region of Barkley, NT.
Singh says the club will use the trip to officially launch an academy designed to grow AFL in the region and encourage the inclusiveness and cultural diversity provided by football.
“The opportunity to have players visit Tennant Creek is certainly one we are extremely excited about,” he said.
“We can’t wait to engage with the people of Barkly, and hope to use football as a vehicle to build some really positive relationships.”
Brodie Grundy and James Aish (pictured in Stawell in 2016) will travel to Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. Photo: Collingwood Media.
The community element to Collingwood’s pre-season will extend beyond this week’s camps.
After a scheduled week off in the JLT Series, the Magpies will play in Mandurah, Western Australia and Moe in Victoria’s Gippsland region before the conclusion of the pre-season.
Midfielder Daniel Wells hails from Mandurah, while Jarryd Blair (Wonthaggi), Tyson Goldsack (Pakenham) and Scott Pendlebury (Sale) all originate from Gippsland’s under-18 TAC Cup.
Last year, Collingwood took over the oval made famous by the Stawell Gift during a trip to the Wimmera region.
In anticipation of the camps later in the week, view the best photos and video from the 2016 Community Camp in the gallery below.
Steele Sidebottom and Tim Golds turn their attention to the camera after they arrive in Stawell.
Scott Pendlebury catches up with Stawell Mayor, Murray Emerson.
Ben Reid poses with 2012 Stawell Gift winner Matt Wiltshire in front of the famous grandstand.
Dane Swan and Brayden Maynard capture the attention of a group of school kids.
Ben Reid closely watches a flying fan.
Jack Crisp, Jarryd Blair, Taylor Adams and Dane Swan face question time from the kids.
Thumbs up for day one of our Community Camp.
