As Collingwood’s first-to-fourth year players made their first arrivals at the Holden Centre this week, another batch of talented, wide-eyed youngsters watched from the sidelines.

Soaking in every move were the Flying Boomerangs, after the Magpies opened up their doors to 25 of the most talented under-15 indigenous footballers in the country.

Their hometowns range from Melbourne to Perth, to more remote locations in the Northern Territory, South Australia and beyond. English is the third language spoken by one boy from the Tiwi Islands.

However cultural barriers were put aside on Tuesday and Friday, as all 25 players converged on the Holden Centre to take part in a series of exercises and observations designed to provide an idea what the life of an AFL player entails.



Members of the Flying Boomerangs train on the Olympic Park Oval at the Holden Centre.

The players not only toured the facilities used by Collingwood's list, but experienced recruiting and nutrition presentations before taking part in a number of on-field sessions with the Magpies' coaches.

“These boys see the running track or the swimming pool or the altitude room and they’ll be going back home and telling stories of when they came to Collingwood,” former Melbourne player, now assistant coach and mentor Aaron Davey told Collingwood Media.

“All these guys are talented but they don’t realise the hard work.

“We help give them resilience and say to them ‘if you want to play AFL, this is what AFL players do’.

“That’s the great thing about the program, it gives them that exposure.”



Collingwood development coach Tarkyn Lockyer speaks to the squad.

While Collingwood’s youngest players were put through gruelling time-trials and ball drills in their first week, the Boomerangs were also tested physically.

Sandwiched between two days at Collingwood was a trip to the Cerberus naval base on the Mornington Peninsula.

“They got tested through various ranges of activities,” the program’s head coach Shannon Rusca told Collingwood Media.

“It’s more of stepping outside their comfort zones and testing themselves as a person and breaking down barriers that they didn’t think could be broken down.

“It’s been amazing seeing the kids grow. They were very shy guys when we first met them, but to see where they are now – they’re like our little sons.”



Two members of the Flying Boomerangs are put through their paces under the eye of Lockyer.

Rusca spent time as a player at both Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs in the early 2000s, however he stressed the importance of having the likes of Davey and the current Collingwood players and coaches to offer the Boomerangs advice.

“It’s immense what those guys bring to the group,” he said.

“They bring that expertise in in terms of what’s going to faze the guys and what they’ll have to deal with.”

Davey is in his third year with the Boomerangs program and believes the players who visited the Holden Centre this year are the best he’s seen during his tenure.

While the potential rigours of being an AFL footballer still lie years ahead, Davey says that the experience of witnessing the life of professional footballers will take immediate value.

“The boys get a really good chance to watch how footy works at the highest level,” he said.

“They’ll remember this for the rest of their lives.”