Walford 'pretty proud' to see Bears aplenty in Indigenous Australian side

What is less common, however, is to have one several members of one local team dominate the selections.

But that is exactly the situation that has unfolded within the Australian Indigenous Oztag under 18s side. With Tamworth resident Jermain Walford named the coach, four of the North Tamworth Bears under 18s team (which Walford also oversees) made the side as well.

Robert Naden, Eljeriah Cubby, Ngulawaa Knox, and Seth Pearson were all encouraged by their coach to put themselves forward.

To see four of his protegees earn places in the team, Walford said, was "wonderful".

"They've been with me for a few years, and now they're representing their culture on the world stage in a sport they're not known for," he said.

"I represented the Indigenous Australian under 21s in 2019 when we toured New Zealand ... knowing that I can relive it again from a coaching perspective, it's going to be beneficial for these young fellas.

"I'm pretty proud."

The side will play at the Australian Invitational Challenge from August 1 to August 4 at Coffs Harbour.

Pearson, who is of Kamilaroi descent, looks forward to the opportunity and hopes he can come away from the tournament a better all-round player.

"It was pretty surreal to be selected," the 17-year-old said.

"It's always good to go to the next step, to see how good some of the other players are. It will help us push to be better and want it more."

"I'm pretty nervous," Naden said, "but excited at the same time.

"It was surreal to get that phone call from Jermain at 12 o'clock. I jumped up off the chair because I was so excited. I'm very grateful for the chance to showcase my talent."

Given the calibre of the players in the side, Walford believes they will do better than make up the numbers.

The coach is confident that his team can compete with other top sides given their abundance of talent.

"I like our chances," Walford said.

"Watching footage on a couple of the players, we've got a lot of naturally skilled, eyes-up ball players ... I've got full belief in them and I trust that they're not going to fail."

On top of the prestige of representing their country and culture, one of the lads might have one more honour bestowed upon them.

When Walford was a part of the Australian Indigenous team, he was selected to be the flag bearer, and subsequently led the march and the war cry. This year, he hopes, one of these four Tamworth boys might get to do the same.

"It's one of the proudest moments of my life, to represent my culture on the big stage, and it's going to open a lot of doors for these boys," he said.