Travis Smith is not short on grit or determination or talent; he just needs the opportunity.

And that is what playing SAPSASA football for the APY Lands has given him.

Smith and his teammates travelled for 22 hours and covered more than 2500 kilometres to represent the APY Lands in the SAPSASA football carnival in Adelaide this week.

For many of the young boys it is an eight hour trip from their community just to get to a main road and then 14 hours by bus to Adelaide.

At the time of writing they had won two of their six matches but by the looks of the huge smiles on their faces it has all been worth it.

The squad of 24 were taken on a tour of the Adelaide Football Club during the week by the indigenous Crows players.

Richard Tambling gave 13-year-old Smith a taste of what is required in the weights room if he wants to play AFL one day.

"They never had squads like SAPSASA when I was learning the game," Tambling said. "There was no Kickstart, no indigenous talent programs or anything.”

"It's great that these kids have got the opportunity to firstly get identified and then work towards their dream."

Smith, who comes from Mimili, is a key position player for the APY Lands team and this is his second trip to the club.

Not surprisingly, he cites Andrew McLeod as his favourite player of all time and still grins when he recalls meeting McLeod in Mimili when the dual Norm Smith medallist visited the APY Lands in 2008 and 2009. McLeod stopped by yesterday to welcome the squad.

Smith says it is a huge week for him and his team mates.

"It is a lot of fun, playing footy together, coming down to the Crows and meeting the players," Smith said.

"Of course we all dream of playing AFL. We play it all the time at home."

After the tour the group had a dinner on the shed floor with the Indigenous Crows players, thanks to the Crows supporter group who cooked one of their famous BBQs.

The Adelaide Crows has had an on-going fostership program with the APY Lands since 2008.

Through the program the Club is aiming to make a difference to the lifestyle of people living in the APY Lands through football.

The program involves coaching, training and lifestyle programs specifically this year teaching the community about "My Eye Health". Desley Culpin and Mary Buckskin from the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia gave a presentation to the group yesterday.

For the past three years Crows players have visited the Lands in late September to watch the local football finals and run Crows in Schools clinic at the area schools throughout the APY Lands.

The APY Land open representative team will play against a representative Maralinga side in the Rio Indigenous Lands Challenge Cup in the curtain raiser prior to the Crows Rd15 clash with the Sydney Swans on Saturday July 2.