The AFLW Dreamtime game helps Top End Youth Academy players find pathways to the elite level. (AFLNT Media: Tymunna Clements)
A couple of years ago Hawthorn's Kaitlyn Ashmore, a Dja Dja Wurrung woman, spent some time in Alice Springs.
She was immediately taken by the gift for footy so many kids had up there, but knew the pathways for development were limited.
"I've been out to the communities … the talent up there is incredible," Ashmore said on the eve of the AFLW's Indigenous Round.
"But it's just getting them down here, or getting them in a program, and then keeping them in there and making them feel culturally safe."
She was in the Red Centre in support of the Dreamtime Academy, an initiative founded by AFLW player Lulu Pullar along with fellow First Nations players Courtney Hodder, a Badimaya and Whadjuk woman, and Ally Anderson, a Ghungalu and Wakka Wakka woman.
There are 22 Indigenous players listed across the AFLW competition, down from 26 in 2023. In the men's competition the number has dropped from 87 in 2020 to 62 this season.
Ashmore said that was why the Indigenous Round was so important.
"If we keep doing that, and celebrating Indigenous people, culture and stories like that, then hopefully we can get some more girls that want to join us."
The AFL is considering a range of measures to boost the number of Indigenous players in the league following a significant decline in recent seasons.
On Sunday night more than 4,000 people packed out the stands at Marrara Stadium to watch Richmond beat Essendon in the Dreamtime match.
Among the spectators were diehard Tigers and Bombers fans and some who had never seen an AFL game before.
Last year the marquee Indigenous Round match was on a Friday night in Darwin and attracted almost 6,000 people.
But the game was fixtured around the men's wildcard round on a day with six AFLW matches and many locals said Sunday's 6:50pm time slot may have led to lower attendance than last year.
Richmond beat Essendon in front of a 4,000-strong crowd in Darwin. (Getty Images: Celina Whan)
