School attendance has often been a problem in outback Australia, but an educator with the support of an Indigenous community is tackling the issue far better than most opponents go facing a slick Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera sidestep.
The schoolchildren from the remote community of Amunturrngu – around 325kms south-west of Mparntwe/Alice Springs – attended a recent AFL match played in the heart of the Red Centre for the first time of their lives to watch their Narungga and Kokatha hero play for St Kilda.
Amunturrngu was established as one of the five Pintupi Luritja settlements after the Commonwealth government forced the removal of traditional-living Pintupi mobs into settlements east of their country to avoid the fall out of missile tests.
As the community settlements grew, so did their love of Australian rules football.
Each settlement – Hassts Bluff, Papunya, Walungurru, Kiwirrkurra as well as Amunturrngu – supports a different AFL club, which also explains why the Watiyawanu School building was designed in St Kilda's red, white and black colours.
Watiyawanu School principal, Larry Kenny, told the AFL "every community in the Northern Territory is affiliated with a football team".
"This community was established in 1979, and they've always been associated with St Kilda – that is their team.
"When the kids are born, they are indoctrinated from birth, this is your team, there is no other team for this community.
"They are passionate about their footy; they are passionate about the Saints."
Living a long way from St Kilda's base of Moorabbin, Mr Kenny and the children travelled from their own remote community to Alice Springs after winning an all expenses trip from the Territory government for the most improved school attendance throughout the Central Australian region.
Watiyawanu recorded a big improvement in term one of 2025.
Since being informed of a lure to incentivise turning up to class, which the reward included free tickets to the game against Melbourne, accommodation and a bus ride to and from Alice Springs, the school recorded an unheard of 88 per cent attendance rate.
"Attendance is always an issue in Central Australia, particularly in the bush," Mr Kenny said.
"Kids vote with their feet: if they don't like it, they won't come.
"We try to encourage them to come with what I call carrots. Carrots work better than sticks."
The children watched the players run out out onto Traeger Park for the first time. Wanganeen-Milera bolted straight from the dressing rooms to high-five the 20 students that all lined up with flags in their hands as high in the air than their smiles.
While the Saints won its first game ever in the Territory, the trip from Melbourne to Alice Springs for the club was more important than just the four premiership points.
Under the direction of Indigenous player development manager, Katrina Amon – also, mother of Hawthorn midfielder Karl Amon – St Kilda welcomed in the Pintupi community on the club's own Yawa (journey).
The club sent up a pallet of training gear to distribute out through the community in addition to boots for prospective Saints stars of the future.
"As soon as we found out we were coming to Alice Springs, we knew we wanted to engage the community and give back. People from right across the club donated gear and merchandise, which we had a lot of after a logo change last year," Amon said.
"We also collected football boot donations from local clubs, schools and communities, as part of a reboot campaign. We were then lucky to have LinFox (the trucking company of former St Kilda president Lindsay Fox) send it all up for us, and during the captain's run (training session), we put it all out for the community.
"It was really rewarding to see kids get an opportunity to pick out a pair of boots and some of the Saints kit.
"We really wanted to engage with our community, including past player Greg McAdam (an Alice Springs local), and his family. We did that for this weekend, and it really makes your cup full."
St Kilda has the second largest Indigenous cohort in the AFL and AFLW competitions at a time when First Nations representation has been declining at the highest level.
Four of its six players – Bradley Hill, Marcus Windhager, Isaac Keeler and Wanganeen-Milera – played stunning roles in Alice Springs, while Liam Henry and Lance Collard watched from the sidelines.
J'Noemi Anderson, raised in the Northern Territory, and Natalie Plane represent the AFLW side.
But Amon said the push to involve the Amunturrngu community around the AFL fixture had not come just from those eight Indigenous names.
The support of coach Ross Lyon ensured a commitment to an Indigenous program that has extended across entire departments of the AFL club.
"What we strive to do is have it through our whole club, not just the footy departments, and we are so well supported by executive and our leaders to do that and make it successful," Amon said.
"For Sir Doug Nicholls Round, we had people from right across the club coming up with ideas and working with me, so we make sure we are doing it right. We also had a First Nations Family Day earlier this year in an effort to encourage and engage local First Nations families.
"We originally thought it was going to be the eight Aboriginal players doing the clinic, but Ross turned around and said, 'No, we will have the whole playing group doing the clinic as we aren't just ticking the box in reconciliation – we are actually doing it'. I think that represents how the club is going with how we are trying to embed a First Nations culture in not just our club, but our community.
"We say we are on a club-wide yawa, which means journey, towards both cultural growth and of understanding, we want as many people to join us as possible."
