Richmond players Reece Conca, Dylan Grimes and Matthew Arnot are in Alice Springs, on a three-day trip, visiting schools as part of the Club’s “Outback Tigers” program run which is run in partnership with Dick Smith.  Here is Matthew Arnot’s account of his Alice Springs adventure.

So far, my trip to Alice Springs has been a saturation of eye-opening experiences involving different outback communities.

On Tuesday, we went to some small, remote communities outside of Alice Springs. The roads were quite bumpy in parts, but the desert scenery and landscape was so different to my classic, suburban upbringing in Melbourne.

I have always been surrounded by lots of technology - computers, phones, huge TV’s and i-Pods, but the kids here are happy to just have a kick of the footy outside in their dusty fields with their friends.

Our goal, while we’re in Alice Springs, is to encourage high attendance levels at school, as part of the Outback Tigers program.

We aim to influence individual kids and classrooms, but it’s great to interact with more people from the communities, so everyone understands how important education is.

It’s nice to see the kids so enthusiastic about simple things such as receiving a brand, new footy or talking to a footballer. It is also great to see those attending school being rewarded with some great prizes from Dick Smith.

AFL football is so popular here in the Northern Territory, which has made me realise that we are role models for kids not just here in Alice, but right around Australia.

This trip to Alice has helped me learn that even as an AFL player, we’re no different to anyone else, but we have an opportunity to reach out and have a really positive effect on kids and people from all walks of life.