The AFL Round 9 fixture was labelled the Dreamtime Round to honour the contribution indigenous players make to the Competition.

All teams of the AFL include indigenous players who are gifted and mercurial athletes.

Michael Long former Essendon player and founder of the Long Walk to Canberra attended Games over the weekend . His former club has a number of talented indigenous players .

Fans wore their jumper , jersey , guernsey to the matches to watch these great athletes play.

The clubs that have these  young men playing in their teams jumper , jersey , guernsey are fortunate .

The New Lion mascot was unveiled at Manuka Oval, Canberra today as the Brisbane Lions and the Western Bulldogs played their first round game for the NAB Cup.
It appears to have the same body as the old Lion mascot but the head is a full frontal depiction outlined in brown / maroon . Star recruit Fevola and the rest of the team were resplendent in their new kit .The Lions despite the new mascot on their jumpers were beaten by the tenacious Western Bulldogs who played in their traditional colours of red , white and blue with old style Bulldogs mascot .
Perhaps it is seen as poetic justice by all the old die hard Fitzroy fans particularly those who remember the Fitzroy Lions glory days that a new Lion a successful team does not make.

[caption id="attachment_236" align="alignright" width="199" caption="Lions colours"][/caption][caption id="attachment_239" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Footscray Bulldogs"][/caption]