A trio of star Fremantle players are expected to play against their teammates as a part of an Indigenous All-Stars match against the Dockers early next year. 

The Indigenous All-Stars team will take the field for the first time since 2015 when they face Fremantle as a part of the AFL’s pre-season fixtures on February 15 at Perth Stadium.

Star Fremantle recruit Shai Bolton is likely to face his new teammates alongside fellow Indigenous Dockers Alex Pearce and Michael Walters. Former St Kilda midfielder Xavier Clarke will coach the team.

“To run onto the field in this game is an incredible honour for the Fremantle Football Club,” Fremantle CEO Simon Garlick said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Fremantle has such a proud history when it comes to Indigenous players representing our club, not to mention the connections we have with communities all around WA and throughout Australia.

“We embrace the strong culture with Indigenous people that has helped make us the club we are today, highlighted by more than 2,500 AFL games from 36 Indigenous players.”

While the match will be the centrepiece, players will also take part in a three-day Indigenous camp around the same time.

Hawthorn legend Shaun Burgoyne captained the Indigenous All Stars team last time they took to the field a decade ago, where they wound up beating the West Coast Eagles in Perth.

What would a full-strength Indigenous All-Stars line-up look like?

It is yet to be determined exactly which players will be allowed to partake on the pre-season match by their respective AFL clubs, who will be wary of star players getting injured on the eve of the home and away season.

However, if players receive clearances and are willing to play, the All-Stars team will be exactly that, made up of some of the game’s most electrifying football stars.

Melbourne’s two-time All-Australian and premiership-winning backman Steven May would be the centrepiece of the All-Stars’s defensive unit, which would also feature Pearce and Bulldogs stopper Liam Jones playing in the key position spots in the back 50. 

A fully-available All-Stars outfit looms as one that could rip opponents to shreds off the halfback flank, with the likes of St Kilda’s Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Hawthorn’s Jarman Impey and big-money Gold Coast recruit Daniel Rioli all excellent ball-users who could run teams ragged. 

Imagine a situation where the Dockers pump the ball inside 50 to one of their talls, and it’s cut off by May, who immediately hands the ball off to Rioli. Good luck stopping that. 

The midfield would be headlined by Port Adelaide’s Jason Horne-Francis, who seems destined to break into the top-10 player in the AFL conversation next season based off another strong season for the Power in 2024. 

Horne-Francis could find himself in the centre circle alongside the likes of Kangaroos skipper Jy Simpkin and West Coast’s Tim Kelly at the first bounce. You could easily throw Bolton in that mix as well. 

Need to tag one of the Dockers’s elite midfielders? No problem, send Giants stopper Toby Bedford their way. St Kilda’s Marcus Windhager is also an excellent option to blanket one of the Freo mids who could get off the leash. 

While there’s talent all over the ground in this potential team, it’s in the forward line where there is simply an embarrassment of riches if everyone is made available. 

The focal point of the forward 50 would be Bulldogs spearhead Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, who will be firmly in Coleman Medal contention next season, and at his feet are a set of smalls that would give even the AFL’s best back six absolute fits. 

Picture Horne-Francis single-handedly winning a clearance from a centre bounce and marching his way down the ground before finding Ugle-Hagan ready to split a pack open inside 50. 

Ugle-Hagan would likely be flanked by Adelaide’s Izak Rankine, Melbourne’s Kysaiah Pickett, the 2023 Norm Smith Medal winner for Collingwood, Bobby Hill, Geelong’s Tyson Stengle and Brisbane duo Charlie Cameron and Callum Ah Chee. 

It’s a forward line that is so jam-packed with talent that Port Adelaide’s Willie Rioli might struggle to start on the ground, as would Essendon’s Jade Gresham and St Kilda’s Liam Henry. 

Who was in the Indigenous All-Stars team when they last played?

The 2015 edition of the Indigenous All-Stars also did not lack any quality, led by Burgoyne and his deputy, then-Gold Coast backman Jarrod Harbrow, and was coached by Andy Lovell.

St Kilda’s Bradley Hill, Impey, Gold Coast’s Sean Lemmens and former Carlton forward Jack Martin are the only players remaining from the squad that could potentially play in next year’s match-up.

2015 INDIGENOUS ALL STARS TEAM 

Shaun Burgoyne (C), Jarrod Harbrow (VC), Jack Martin, Shane Edwards, Jake Neade, Jonathon Griffin, Danyle Pearce, Stephen Hill, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Bradley Hill, Jake Long, Brady Grey, Nathan Wilson, Neville Jetta, Jarman Impey, Jermaine Miller-Lewis, Curtly Hampton, Sean Lemmens, Jarrod Pickett, Jarrod Garlett, Cam Ellis-Yolmen, Josh McGuinness, Lewis Jetta, Josh Hill, Shaun Edwards, Abiana Davis.