FOOTBALL
AFL EXPORTS
By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
MELBOURNE Football Club arrived into Alice Springs for a four-day preseason break in the Northern Territory, with Morwell’s Ricky Mentha back in his heartland.
Last year, Mentha became the first draft product signed to the Demon Next Generation Academy from the region.
Alongside Jack Viney, Jake Lever and AFLW Demon Kate Horne, the club was supporting the Jim Stynes Foundation by spotlighting the sporting opportunities and positive health outcomes for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The players headed up a clinic at the Traeger Park Indoor Basketball courts, with Mentha welcomed by his NT family including his emotional nanna upon his arrival along with cousins, nieces and nephews.
The group then travelled to the Gap Road Youth Centre to meet with young kids, for which Mentha said he often frequented.
During his time with Melbourne, Mentha has been living with veteran leader Viney and continuing to forge strong relationships with fellow Indigenous players Kysaiah Pickett and Steven May during the course of the early stages of his professional career.
