Hodder lends a hand to the Premier

Queanbeyan’s Ethan Hodder’s journey of becoming the next Indigenous AFL star has been given a major boost while in Sydney for the 2010 Qantas KickStart Camp.

The talented footballer was voted among his peers as the player with the best skills and was given the rare privilege of showing New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally how to hand-pass a Sherrin. Keneally was at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in Redfern today to announce the state government will invest $500,000 into the centre’s Indigenous programs. 

In front of his playing group, media, and coaching staff, including former Sydney Swan Michael O’Loughlin and former Brisbane Lion Chris Johnson, Hodder successfully guided the NSW Premier through the skill to a rousing applause.

Hodder said it is one of the highlights of the week-long camp so far.

“It was really exciting, I haven’t really taught anyone how to hand-pass before so it was a great experience,” he said.

“She [Kristina Keneally] was really good, for the first time ever hand-passing a football, she did a great job.”

Fifty Indigenous boys aged 14 and 15 were selected from every state and territory in Australia to attend the week-long camp based at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence (NCIE) in Sydney’s Redfern.

Throughout the week the players will undertake a number of activities while they train for the biggest match of their young lives, when they play the curtain-raiser to the Sydney Swans and Western Bulldogs match on Saturday, August 21.

On Tuesday, the squad visited the Qantas hanger to take a look at the airline’s new planes, while on Wednesday the group attended Taronga Zoo. On Thursday morning the team spent time with Aboriginal Elders in Redfern as they learnt about their heritage and culture before training with the Sydney Swans at the SCG.

Hooder said he’s had an enjoyable time in Sydney with the KickStart team and has learnt a lot along the way.

“The week has been really good, it’s been a fantastic experience … there’s been a lot of people who have said a lot of good things and I look forward to taking it on board and using it,” he said.

“It was really good at the zoo, it was probably the first time everyone’s ever gone to the zoo and seen other animals from another country and going to the block in Redfern was a really good experience.”

AFL Engagement and Talent Coordinator Michael O’Loughlin said the players have taken a lot out of the camp.

“The whole week has been played out as though the kids are at an AFL club.

They’ve had a bit of a shock to the system with the amount of training, what foods they can put in their mouth and all the discipline that’s required to play at the elite level,” O’Loughlin said.

O’Loughlin said the week will not only focus on elite on-field training, it will also focus on cultural awareness and personal development.

“I don’t like people rocking up late and these kids have so many opportunities nowadays that they’ve got to start taking responsibility for how they want their life to look,” he said.

“If they want to be an AFL player, that’s great, but it just doesn’t happen, it’s a lot of hard work.

“They’re starting to get the gist of that now and that’s just not being a footy player that’s with everything in life.

“If you were going for a job interview you wouldn’t rock up five or ten minutes late, so we’re trying to drum that into them.

“Sometimes you’ve got to put the hard word on them and if that means a 6am push-up session so be it, they learn the lesson pretty quickly.”

To make the week even more special is the fact the team will get to watch Sydney Swans coach Paul Roos’s and captain Brett Kirk’s farewell match at the SCG.