Martin keeping the home fires burning
SITTING around a fire on the banks of the Tweed River, Suns player Jack Martin feels a sense of connection to his Yawuru people located on the other side of the country.
It’s part of a new initiative created by the Gold Coast Suns’ indigenous players in collaboration with local Yugambeh man Luther Cora, who also designed the club’s 2019 guernsey for this weekend’s Indigenous Round.
“We go out fishing, crabbing, light a fire and have a feed,” Martin said
“It’s simple things we can do to get away, things we do back home to take our minds off things. We spend two or three hours down by the river fishing and spearing.
“It’s been massive (for the players’ mental wellbeing). I know a lot of the other boys get a lot out of it as well. You’re not at home but you feel connected by doing it.”
Martin grew up in Broome, where as a child he would walk to his cousins’ houses, sometimes 15 minutes away, before either spending the entire day by the water fishing or at the footy oval, where he would play barefoot.
“Some of those days were the best of my life,” Martin said.
“I still go back in the offseason and we usually pack the cars and go out of town.
“We have a block out of town … we go out there and I could literally stay out there all week. It’s near the water south of Broome. We have a house that just runs off generators so we really don’t have power.
“It’s there I feel I can free my mind. I feel refreshed. If I’m ever stressed then that’s the place I go to clear my head.”
The Suns’ indigenous players, including Martin, Jarrod Harbrow, Sean Lemmens, Callum Ah Chee and most recently Izak Rankine, have driven the continued growth of Gold Coast’s indigenous programs since 2011.
Each are represented on the guernsey by their choice of a totem or tribe, with a cracked pattern representing Queensland. “Where I’m from, my culture, my people, it’s something I’ll never forget,” Martin said.