The Hawks' third trip to Katherine coincided with the Barunga Festival, a hugely popular sports and culture festival which sees participants travel from all over the Territory to participate.

Approximately 3000 people congregated in Barunga over the four days and the Hawks were proud to be a part of it, with recently retired Trent Croad attending accompanied by a couple of Hawks staff and a representative from beyondblue.

The three day tour saw the group visit Clyde Fenton Primary School in the town of Katherine on Day one, with Croady talking to the kids about healthy eating and fitness, before running through some drills and finishing with a game of ever popular poison ball.

The second day was festival time, with the Hawks visiting the Barunga Festival.

Barunga is an Indigenous Community a little over an hour out of the town of Katherine and one the Club visited on our first trip to the region in 2009.

The group made it in time for the official opening ceremony, which featured a traditional dance performance. Croady then made his way to the football field, where the competition was heating up between local teams.

He played his part by taking the Numbulwar Eagles through a warm up and gave them a half time rev-up. They went on to win the heat, but unfortunately lost in the final two days later.

Indigenous Hip Hop Projects (IHHP) ran a series of dance workshops at the Festival, encouraging self-expression through dance and sending Youthbeyondblue’s messages of Look. Listen. Talk. Seek Help in a unique way through hip hop.

Thanks to the partnership between Hawthorn and Youthbeyondblue, IHHP travelled all across the region of Katherine in the week leading up to the festival too, taking sessions at schools and communities.

On the last day of the trip, the Hawks crew and the hip hop dancers went to visit the community of Binjari, which is only 15 minutes outside of Katherine. The kids were over the moon with the visit, kicking the football and getting involved in some games and drills.

The hip hop dancers drove their minivan onto the oval to provide a makeshift dance floor, using the car stereo with all windows and doors open.

The kids relished the opportunity to have a dance and show us their moves. There are two things that these kids love: football and dance!

Another great trip to Katherine was had by the Hawks and we look forward to the continued relationship with the people and organisations of the region.


Trent Croad tries his hand at coaching with the Numbulwar Eagles.

The Eagles hit the oval for some warm-ups with Croady.


Residents of the community of Binjari.


Croady meets a local in Binjari.