SIX STUDENTS from the Tiwi Islands were given the trip of a lifetime over Dreamtime weekend, with Essendon arranging for the girls to attend training and meetings with the players.

The six were a combination of very keen footballers and very keen students, all hailing from Xavier College on Bathurst Island, which falls under Essendon's Next Generation Academy zone.

Maria Tipuamantamirri was the eldest of the group at 18 and an NT Academy representative, and English is her second language.

The question is often asked about how to increase the numbers of Indigenous footballers, but for some, there are so many more steps to go through than footballers who live in a central city.

Tiwi life is very different to Darwin life, which in itself is a world away from Melbourne, meaning any prospective jump to a higher level of football is infinitely more difficult than moving from local to state footy in one of the big cities. AFL/W is a huge step again.

Tipuamantamirri plays footy in the local senior women's league on Tiwi (which has a whopping eight teams) in winter, and for the Tiwi Bombers in the NTFL over summer – as well as a stint with the NT team in the Talent League – but to progress any further, she would have to move far from home.

"Footy brings us together, all our family and friends. For my siblings, I'm the eldest. I've got two brothers," Tipuamantamirri said.

"Footy on Tiwi is good, but the weather is a bit hot. I play Tapalinga, we won the Grand Final. It makes me happy to play in front of my family and friends. I feel nervous because of all the people coming to watch. I feel proud. I played against some of my family, too.

"I play mids and wings. I love tackling, and I love to just get the ball and run."

The students' visit to Darwin saw them attend Essendon's training, complete a skills session with Bombers' assistant coaches, run out with the players ahead of the match, and spend some time with the group at their team hotel.

"This is our third year in Darwin, we've actually had kids come from Tiwi all three years now, and some of them have been lucky enough to come every year. They're very shy girls – they'll come up to you all excited, but then get all shy. You can tell their way of showing affection is through physical touch, they love hugs," young Essendon leader Amy Gaylor said.

"It's been nice to see some of them from the first year through to the third year, and start to see people like Bonnie (Toogood) build connections with those kids, and I really applaud Essendon for it. It's all well and good to bring them down once, or do one trip up to Tiwi, get the photos and never come back. But there's been a lot of time and effort put into making sure we're building connections and touching base again with those girls. I know it means a lot to them.

"We had a bunch of colouring stuff at the hotel, a few of the girls were doing Indigenous designs, and some were playing cards with us. Luckily with our partnership with Puma, we were able to give footy boots to a few of the girls."

Gaylor travelled with teammate Mia Busch and former AFL rookie Jack Peris (currently working for the Long Walk) up to the Tiwi Islands and Jabiru in West Arnhem Land back in May, both of which fall in the club's Next Generation Academy zone.

"I think this has been the third year now, since COVID, that we've been going to Tiwi, and this was the first year since then that we've been to Jabiru," she said.

"We flew up to Tiwi and actually went straight to the football oval, and the kids were just flocking there. The first night we spent a couple of hours there, and the kids spent the whole afternoon after school there. We even had a couple of kids follow us to the supermarket, they were so keen to be with us. 

"It was just really special – the kids, their eyes lit up. Literally from the end of school till it was half-dark, we were out there playing football. 

"There's this one girl, Augustina (Munkara), who was actually in Darwin for our Dreamtime match. The first year we met her, she was at our belly buttons, and now she's nearly our height, it's really special to see them grow up. When we rocked up, literally every single person was telling us we needed to meet her, that 'She's the future'. They showed so much pride in football and in her, it's a real community thing. 

"To see how football is spread through all these remote communities, it really shows how it connects all of Australia."

Munkara is just 14 years old and chock full of talent, kicking an astonishing 63 goals for Jikilarruwu in the senior women's league on Tiwi Islands. She's one who has enough potential to expand her football horizons, whether that's in Darwin or the biggest league of all, but it's a long path to the top for players from remote communities.

"It's obviously still such a long way to go to get these talented kids into the AFLW. Being up there in Tiwi, seeing how different the lifestyle is, it's such a huge move from Tiwi to Darwin, let alone to Melbourne," Gaylor said.

"There's still a lot of building blocks to get through to get these kids up and playing AFLW, but we're definitively taking the right steps."