Designs on special Indigenous Round
WITH strong links to several different areas of Australia, Manunda Hawk Marcus McGregor-Cassady’s designs represent his and his family’s journey.
The talented cricketer and footballer has lived in the Northern Territory, represents South Australia in indigenous cricket and now calls the Far North home.
McGregor-Cassady’s mum is from Broome in Western Australia, his father from Halifax, just south of where he lives now in Cairns, and the descendant of the Yawaru and Mamu peoples’ paintings represent that heritage.
McGregor-Cassady, with a little help from the Manunda Hawks women’s team, designed the guernsey the women’s team will wear this afternoon for the annual AFL Cairns Indigenous Round.
He completed his work on canvas and then transferred it to the playing strip.
“It is a bit of a mixture,” McGregor-Cassady said when asked where his paintings represented.
“I have been on a different journey – Adelaide, Darwin and Cairns. I have picked up a lot along the way.
“I try not to narrow down my designs to one area, I want to keep everything pretty broad.”
Designing the Hawks’ jumper was not a new experience for McGregor-Cassady, who has been painting since 2011, previously painting cricket stumps for the Imparja Cup, an annual indigenous cricket championships in Central Australia.
Manunda Hawks Women’s co-captains Jennifer Robinson and Rose Jorquera came up with a rough design and ideas for the guernsey they will wear today before McGregor-Cassady put the finishing touches on the final product.
“The girls wanted to include everyone’s different journey to the Manunda Hawks football club,” McGregor-Cassady said.
“It was a team effort to put it all together.
“We were really happy with the way it has turned out.”
Robinson said the guernseys represented their football club.
“The Hawks are a family and a tight-knit group,” she said.
“We wanted something to showcase us as a club and Marcus helped us do that.”
The girls’ Hawks will travel south today and host Cairns Saints in the first game of the double-header at Power Park before Centrals TB face North Cairns.
McGregor-Cassady’s Hawks will look to return to the winners’ list when they tackle the bottom-of-the-ladder Cairns City Lions at Holloways Beach.
THE GIRLS WANTED TO INCLUDE EVERYONE’S DIFFERENT JOURNEY TO THE MANUNDA HAWKS FOOTBALL CLUB. IT WAS A TEAM EFFORT TO PUT IT ALL TOGETHER MARCUS McGREGOR-CASSADY