NRL star touches down in Wee Waa

Wee Waa Public School students were beyond excited when Greg Inglis brought his Goanna Academy to town on Monday, November 6.

The rugby league star’s academy is the first accredited and Indigenous-owned mental health education provider in Australia.

It is also Supply Nation accredited and Headspace endorsed, operating in four interconnected areas: community, school, workplace, and Indigenous mentoring.

Wee Waa Public School was lucky enough to be chosen to participate in the Goanna Academy school pilot program.

WWPS principal Kathy Knott said it was an amazing opportunity for the Wee Waa community, especially after COVID, and last year’s floods.

“The Goanna program reached out to us so I’m quite excited about that,” said Mrs Knott.

“It has been a wonderful opportunity for our school and I’m looking forward to seeing how this pans out over the next 12 months.

“It allows the parents an opportunity to see what does happen at school and what opportunities we can offer the children, so it’s a great chance for them to be interactive with the kids, the community, and this particular program.”

The students were keen to get out to Dangar Park to kick a football around with the former Melbourne Storm and South Sydney Rabbitohs player, well-known for his ‘Goanna’ crawl try celebration.

Afterwards, the group headed back to the school for a community barbecue, provided by Bunnings, and a parent’s mental health presentation delivered by Mr Inglis.

From the Dunghutti tribe (Kempsey), Mr Inglis is described on the NRL website as ‘a once in a generation talent’.

“Such was his skill, he excelled in multiple positions – winning his first Clive Churchill Medal at five-eighth in 2007 and dominating for Queensland and Australia at centre,” states his NRL biography.

“But it was arguably as a fullback that he ascended to the pinnacle of his career, propelling the Rabbitohs to a drought-breaking premiership in 2014.”

Mr Inglis’ Wee Waa visit was popular, providing a thrill for students, teachers and parents.

The idea of the Goanna Academy program is to facilitate five modules over five visits, where kids will get to engage with Mr Inglis and the program, in starting more conversations about mental health.

Mrs Knott thought Mr Inglis was a great role model for students to identify with.

“Greg is relational to the children, he speaks their language, he’s not speaking down to them, or patronising them, he speaks to them so that they understand what he’s saying,” said Mrs Knott.

“It’s generated a few inquisitive thoughts from some of the students and they’ll go home and have a chat with parents at the dinner table tonight hopefully,” said Mrs Knott.

The programs are designed to help end the stigma surrounding mental health and improve social capacity to identify, talk about, and manage mental health for all Australians – particularly in at-risk groups such as regional males, youth, and First Nations communities.

Working together with NSW Education, the Goanna school program pilot looks to reduce stigma, open the conversation, and provide students with support and coping tools.

The parents’ presentation was a great way for Mr Inglis to connect with the community and discuss his life after football, and he also shared his own personal journey – challenges and hurdles – and how he turned it around to give back to the community and his culture.

“Today was a bit of a taster, and a bit of novelty and excitement having Greg here, but once he’s come a couple of times, the kids will really interact with it and understand that somebody is listening to them, and how to go about finding help for themselves, rather than letting it compound and come down on top of them,” said Mrs Knott.

She said, “prevention is better than a cure” and explained the merits of supporting students when they were younger to help keep them on the right track, rather than starting at 15 or 16 years old when they might have developed bad habits.

“We can avoid those pathways, and instead encourage putting your head down in the classroom, supporting your mates in the classroom and in the playground, and in the community, so we hopefully have fewer issues later on.”

Wee Waa Public School students Shane Reynolds, Celia Galagher, Goanna Academy ambassador and NRL player Jakiya Whitfeld, WWPS students Maecee Smith, Rebecca Williams, Kaitlan Schwager, front, Tara Galagher and Marlee Schwager.

NRL player and Goanna Academy Ambassador Jakiya Whitfeld, a program facilitator has been travelling around Australia with the academy, recently visiting from Townsville, Bourke, and Walgett, before coming to Wee Waa for the first of five visits to the school.

Ms Whitfeld hopes that Mr Inglis’ presence and candid honesty will inspire others in the community to make their mental health a priority for themselves and younger generations.

“For the kids and adults who idolise Greg, to see him open up and speak about his mental health journey hopefully inspires them,” said Ms Whitfeld.

“We hope to give the kids in Wee Waa the tools and strategies to deal with mental health concerns, and today we’re also running the adult mental health talk, which in a sense, gives them the same skills and strategies to deal with it.”

“It’s not just about the kid’s mental health, it doesn’t discriminate, it’s as important for the kids to understand as the adults.

“I think that communities like this don’t have the resources to provide support to communities so for us it’s about reducing the stigma of mental health and opening conversations.

“Greg’s story is amazing, it enables people to do that.”

The five modules for the visits will teach kids how to have resilience and self-confidence while opening conversations and talking about being a good mate, and where to find resources and support.

Support might come from a school teacher, it might be a mum or a friend.

Ms Whitfeld expressed her passion for reaching rural communities and helping to grow accessibility to resources in the areas the academy visits.

“They often get forgotten about, and people don’t get out to them so I’m really lucky to be able to do that for a job,” said Ms Whitfeld.

“The kids have been awesome, kicking the footy and stuff, they were really engaging.

“Teaching the little ones who’ve never played before was awesome. Everyone got involved and the sportsmanship of the kids was really nice to see as well.

“The whole community, the people who’ve turned up to the adult mental health talk as well, it’s good to see them there and be open to learning about the conversations they can walk into.”