Essendon’s first to fourth year players have conquered a two day hike, swim and canoe through Katherine Gorge in the Northern Territory this week.

High Performance Manager, Justin Crow, said leadership development was a big part of the Katherine Gorge visit.

“The idea of the Katherine Gorge experience was to be as far away from society as possible,” Crow said

“We turned off the phones, hiked out to the sixth Gorge, camped out and spent some really quality time together under the stars,” Crow said.

“We then had quite a challenging experience on the way back where we canoe, swim and run our way back to civilisation.

“There are some really good leaders amongst this group and to be honest I’m just impressed with the whole lot of them. Our players returned in great shape.”

Following Katherine, the players headed to the Tiwi Islands to meet the community, learn about the history and culture and experience Tiwi football. 

“Since arriving in Tiwi we have had an opportunity to engage with the local community, we received a traditional welcome,” Crow said.

“This is great opportunity for us to learn about football and see the joy on the young kids faces.

“We are really getting in touch with our Clubs’ heritage and our indigenous roots.

“The players tend to be one-in-all-in, they’ve all been dancing and are really embracing it as we spend more time up here in the Territory.

“Apart from building a real bond within our younger playing group, we are able to get in touch with our identity – what it means to play in the Dreamtime game and what it means to be a member of the Essendon Football Club.”