For Richmond key forward, Aaron Edwards, home is where the heart is.

This week’s Multicultural Round in the AFL marks a time to recognise the individual journeys of the league’s 817 players, particularly those with varying and unique cultural backgrounds. A common thread to all of those journeys is the importance of family.

For Edwards, who grew up in Hampton Park, in Melbourne’s outer south-eastern suburbs, family and football are no comparison.

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On draft day, beyond his initial excitement of being recruited to the West Coast Eagles, his reaction to his impending interstate move was, “Wow, I have to move four hours away…”

Since his name was called out in the 2003 Rookie Draft 10 years ago, Edwards has played 87 AFL games and is now at his third club. The 29-year-old is proving to be a valuable asset in the Tigers’ forward line, and highly regarded by the playing group and coaches.

Having only started playing football in his early teens, the game was a new found love that was all about having fun. However, family has always meant so much more to Edwards, and a need to be close to them runs through his Polynesian blood.

Edwards was born in Samoa, his mum a Samoan native and his father from New Zealand. He moved to Australia when he was four. Through his extended family he has strong links to Samoan culture; most notably his tattoos. A design on his back depicts a beach scene – his place of birth – and on his left forearm he has a Samoan tribal tattoo.

Edwards has returned to Samoa only once, and it was in near tragic circumstances. In 2009, the Samoan Islands were hit by a tsunami and earthquake, leaving more than 5,000 people homeless and at least 189 people dead. Luckily Edwards’ mother, who had recently returned to Samoa to live, was unaffected.

As a 16-year-old, he represented the senior Samoan football team in the International Cup and travelled up the coast for three weeks. He couldn’t speak the language, but between the discussion on the team bus and the sing-a-longs he learnt a few words.

Edwards speaks with joy about his memories of growing up in a large Samoan family - the food, the family gatherings and the singing. His father passed away at the end of 2010 and his mother lives in Samoa, but Edwards is still very close to his extended family including his grandma, aunties, three sisters, nieces and a nephew.

“When I go to my grandma’s there would be 30 to 40 people there…that’s really good to have. That’s pretty much how Polynesians are brought up – they all stick together,” he says.

It is no surprise that after being delisted from the Eagles in 2005, he ignored other interstate offers and settled on returning home to continue his football at VFL club Frankston. After all, the club’s home-ground was located in the next street from his grandma’s house.

“My grandma is probably a bigger part of my family than anyone else. She was only just around the corner, everything was just easier and it showed in my football.”

Early in his career, Edwards’ first priority for his football was to enjoy playing, rather than dreaming that he could play at the elite level.

“I never had the idea of “oh I want to play AFL football”. I was doing it for fun.”

He didn’t play for Hampton Park to be selected in the Dandenong Stingrays squad, he didn’t play TAC Cup to get drafted, but when he did, the stakes changed.

In Perth, on the other side of the country, away from the family structure that he could rely on his whole life, Edwards is the first to admit that he struggled.

“It was pretty challenging. I spent a few years there (in Perth), but I didn’t make the most of it. I probably didn’t value being on an AFL list as much as other kids,” he says.

“But being delisted after a couple of years and coming back home and being closer to family again - I was as happy as they come, playing VFL.”

In 2006, Edwards won the Liston Trophy for the best and fairest in the VFL and was awarded the Frosty Miller Medal, as the VFL leading goal kicker in the same season – a double that has never been achieved before, in the history of the game.

At the end of 2006, he was picked up by North Melbourne and, the following year he played 19 games for the Kangaroos, including their preliminary final on the MCG.

“I definitely took a different attitude, I looked at it as an opportunity. I don’t know if my heart was in the last one and I definitely didn’t know what it took to be an AFL footballer.”

“I thought “wow, footy has really changed”. I was one game away from a grand final.

“If my attitude didn’t change, I definitely wouldn’t be sitting here seven years later.”

Edwards is proud of his journey so far and the personal growth he has achieved. Off the field he is eyeing a career in commercial real estate.

“I’ve taken baby steps along the way, I’ve done some things wrong, I’ve done some things right, I’ve learnt from them and it’s held me in good stead.”

Edwards is now focused on making the most of his opportunity at new club, Richmond and cementing his place in the senior team.