Eagles to face Indigenous All Stars in pre-season match
The Indigenous All Stars will face West Coast in a pre-season match
THE AFL Indigenous All Stars will face West Coast in a pre-season match at Medibank Stadium in Perth on February 20.
The match is scheduled just six days before the NAB Challenge gets underway and seven days before West Coast's match against Carlton at Rushton Park in Mandurah.
The fixture has been held every second year since 2003.
It will be the first time the AFL Indigenous All Stars face the Eagles and it is also the first time the match will be played in Western Australia.
The match will be the culmination of a week-long camp in Perth where all indigenous players on AFL lists are expected to attend.
The AFL is confident all 72 of the AFL's indigenous players will attend, including Lance Franklin.
"Buddy is coming across - once again he is on that list of 72 and we're waiting to get confirmation from the Swans of his availability - all reports are that he has had a really good pre-season," said AFL head of diversity Jason Mifsud.
"When you consider all of the WA boys on lists at the moment, Buddy is obviously on the higher end of that profile with big following over here as he has throughout the country so we're really hoping that he will make the show."
Fremantle forward Michael Walters is one player who will be there and is excited at the rare chance to spend some quality time with his fellow indigenous players in the lead up to the clash with the Eagles.
"It's very important that the 72 indigenous boys get around each other. It is a big group of 72 and to have them here in Perth is quite good, especially because we are all staying together for a week - hopefully we can learn more," Walters said.
"I have been here seven years but I still feel I have got a lot of room to improve in all aspects of footy and to learn off boys like Buddy and Cyril Rioli to try and match my game against is quite an honour."
For West Coast, the game will be preparation for their preseason cup contest with Carlton in Mandurah six days later and ruckman Nic Naitanui is looking forward to the early chance to test themselves against a talented line-up.
Naitanui has had interrupted pre-seasons the past two years, but the 2012 All Australian is feeling healthier coming into 2015 and looking forward to facing the Indigenous All Stars.
"I'm fit and firing and I'm putting my hand up to play. The indigenous boys in our team are excited as well," Naitanui said.
"So whether they choose to play for us or play for the All Stars team is still in the balance but we can't wait for this opportunity."
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