Essendon has commenced its AFL Australia Post Community Camp – a two-day visit throughout regional Victoria involving clinics as well as school, farm and hospital visits.

The camp began with a civic reception in Kyabram and concludes in Rochester on Tuesday.

“This community camp provides an ideal platform for members of the public to engage with their AFL heroes,” AFL Goulburn Murray General Manager Martin Gleeson said.

“In the next 26 hours, over 5,000 children, footballers, fans and members of the public will have the opportunity to interact and learn.

“Children will be inspired, coaches will be educated, supporters will be engaged and hospital patients and retirement home residents will be entertained.”

Bombers CEO Xavier Campbell said the Club’s ‘Country Game’ initiative had further strengthened its ties to regional Victoria.

“We want to be a really inclusive Football Club and today is another step for us to give back to the local community,” he said.

“Farmers in general take some of the great risks that others in the nice, safe life of corporate Australia probably don’t understand.

“Through the Country Game initiative – a lot of that work is not just about acknowledging the impact and the input of people in regional Victoria to the game of AFL but it’s also acknowledging the impact it has on our country and our economy as a whole.”