Brad ‘Freddy’ Fittler with four-year-old Freddy Hutchins enjoying the fun at Rumbalara.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
What happens when you cross Harley Davidsons, NRL legends and keen kids from Shepparton?
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The answer is a ball of fun - and a rugby league-shaped one, at that.
Last Thursday, Rumbalara Football Netball Club hosted a leg of the NRL Hogs National Tour - a 7000km, 18-day round trip from Sydney which brought Brad Fittler, Greg Inglis and Dale Finucane rumbling into town on gleaming Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
The three ex-stars, who boast 68 State of Origin caps between them, took a strong showing of Shepparton kids through their paces in a memorable day out on the oval.
Finucane, a former Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Melbourne Storm and Cronulla Sharks lock, explained the premise of the tour.
“It’s basically about increasing participation in rugby league,” he said.
“Obviously, it’s pretty foreign in Victoria - the guys have been up in and around Queensland, where rugby league predominantly is as well as NSW.
“It’s a really good initiative, with the guys on the motorbikes as well as Greg Inglis delivering his Goanna program around mental health, so it’s just really about getting out into the community.”
Inglis, a three-time premiership winner, was quite literally along for the ride during the NRL Hogs Tour, partnering to help deliver his mission via the Goanna Academy, Australia’s first accredited and Indigenous-owned mental health education provider.
He, Fittler and Finucane were in their element at Rumbalara, showing local youngsters the ropes of rugby league.
“In Victoria, (league is) quite foreign to these kids, so it’s about teaching them about the fundamentals of the sport and hopefully growing participation levels down here in rural Victoria,” Finucane said.
“It's a growing game, rugby league, and it's predominantly in those states and given the dominance that Melbourne Storm have had in Victoria, you'd like to think that it would increase participation levels in rural Victoria as well.
“They've obviously got senior participation up here, but there's no junior club in this town particularly, so just increasing that and hoping the kids enjoy the sport.”
News photographer Rechelle Zammit was in attendance to snap kids and stars alike having a ball.
