NORTH Melbourne assistant coach Xavier Clarke will guide the Indigenous All-Stars team and Sydney great Michael O'Loughlin will chair the selection panel as preparations gear up for the showcase game to be held in February next year.
For the first time since 2015, the game's best Indigenous players will come together in one team to take on Fremantle in the 2025 Toyota Indigenous All-Stars match at Optus Stadium on February 15.
Clarke, who played 106 games for St Kilda and Brisbane in a nine-year AFL career, has since developed into one of the League's most respected assistant coaches.
He led the NT Thunder to a NEAFL premiership in 2015 before joining Richmond as a development coach under Damien Hardwick, helping the Tigers to three premierships in four years.
Clarke moved to North Melbourne as an assistant to work under Alastair Clarkson ahead of the 2023 season.
O'Loughlin is a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame and a 303-game player with the Swans, where he booted 521 goals – the second-most in the club's history. He won the Swans' best and fairest in 1998, is a member of the AFL's Indigenous Team of the Century, and coached the Indigenous All-Stars team that toured Ireland in 2013.
O'Loughlin will chair a selection panel that includes Clarke, former Hawthorn and Port Adelaide star Chad Wingard AFL Indigenous and multicultural player engagement manager Pauly Vandenbergh, AFL executive general manager of social policy and inclusion Tanya Hosch, AFL executive general manager of football Laura Kane and AFL general manager of football operations Josh Mahoney.
Hosch was delighted to have such well-credentialled people take up key roles ahead of the showcase game next year.
"To have a former player of the calibre of Micky lead the selection of this side is fantastic," said Ms Hosch.
"His football record speaks for itself but he has also been an immense leader amongst the Indigenous community and continues to give back to through his work on numerous foundations and through his business.
"He epitomises the on and off field excellence and community spirit that characterises the Indigenous All-Stars side and we are thrilled to have him on board leading the selection next year.
"Xavier is a highly regarded assistant coach in the Toyota AFL Premiership competition and has been a part of three premierships when he was with the Richmond Football Club.
"I know Xavier has future ambitions to be an AFL senior coach and we are thrilled to provide him with this opportunity to be the head coach of the Indigenous All-Stars in February as he continues in the coaching pathway."