St George Illawarra players have been out in the community as part of the club’s “Back 2 Juniors” visits.
The visits, part of the NRL’s Community Carnival, saw Dragons players drop in on eight St George junior rugby league clubs on Tuesday to deliver the NRL Respect program.
Arncliffe Scots, Brighton Seagulls, Earlwood Saints, Hurstville United, Kingsgrove Colts, Kogarah Cougars, Renown United and Penshurst RSL all had visitors from the Dragons as well as NRL game development officers to present the program to junior players.
The Dragons also took part in junior rugby league clinics and participated in education lessons with the students focusing on the importance of respect, belonging and celebrating differences.
Young St George Illawarra back-rower Jacob Host was joined by fellow Renown United junior Jason Nightingale and young gun Jai Field to visit their former club on Tuesday afternoon.
“I'm really excited to get back to my junior club and try to inspire the future generations who are playing football in the St George area,” Host said.
“The area is one that I'm very fond of having played and trained there throughout my rugby league career.”
Dragons community manager Paul Everill said the visit was a boost for fans in the area.
“It is a great opportunity for us to visit other parts of our region and being the pre-season we have the ability to take our full squad out into these areas and it is something the players really enjoy,” he said.
“It is a great opportunity for the players and fans to interact and for us to promote important and positive life messages.”
Hosted throughout February, the NRL Community Carnival is supported by every NRL club and NRL ambassadors and travels more than 40,000 kilometres to visit more than 1,000 schools, host up to 80 junior rugby league clinics and visit more than 250,000 primary and secondary students throughout Australia and New Zealand.