Essendon’s Courtenay Dempsey, Shaun Edwards and Jake Long have arrived in Darwin for a special community camp.

The Bombers players will spend the next five days speaking with and educating young indigenous children.

They will travel to Wadeye and the Tiwi Islands as well as spending time in Darwin.

“The legacy Michael Long has left coming from this region and then going to the AFL, it obviously gave a lot of kids inspiration,” Essendon’s Aboriginal Programs and Welfare Coordinator Matthew Whelan said. 

“His son (Jake) is at Essendon now and for a lot of the kids we’re going to visit that dream is not too far off.

“They want to play AFL footy and to see blokes like Jake Long and Shauny Edwards do that – hopefully some of these kids can emulate them.” 

The players will also conduct special mentoring sessions with 15 Indigenous children from Country Victoria who have travelled to the Northern Territory as part of Essendon and Anglicare Victoria’s “Taking Flight” initiative.