Port Adelaide’s Steven Motlop and Paddy Ryder helping drive home the anti-smoking message to indigenous communities

They’re forming a dangerous partnership in Port Adelaide’s forwardline and Paddy Ryder and Steven Motlop are also teaming up to help stamp out the number one cause of disease and early death among indigenous people.

Steven Motlop and Paddy Ryder during a pre-game warm up this season. Picture: Mark Brake (Getty).

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They’re forming a dangerous partnership in Port Adelaide’s forwardline and Paddy Ryder and Steven Motlop are also teaming up to stamp out smoking — the number one cause of disease and early death among indigenous people.

Port Adelaide’s Aboriginal programs is partnering with the Cancer Council SA to promote a smoke-free message to young Aboriginal people both on game day and through its academies.

While tobacco smoking is declining in Australia, it remains disproportionately high among indigenous Australians.

Motlop and Ryder with the Cancer Council of SA's Peter Thomas who are concerned about the rate of smoking among indigenous people. Picture: Mark Piovesan.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the proportion of indigenous Australians who smoke is 45 per cent compared to 16 per cent of non-indigenous adults.

“Any part I can play to raise that awareness of living a healthy lifestyle is special to me, and the affect smoking has on your health long-term is so important to be aware of, and I feel really proud to be part of that,” Motlop said.

“Being indigenous and a role model in the community, we all know how much indigenous kids and families especially love their footy and see our faces on the TV screen as well, so any role we can play to raise awareness of anti-smoking will go a long way.”

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cancer prevention and programs manager Peter Thomas said Quitline wants to use the social impact of Port’s Aboriginal programs to get its message across.

“Research from Cancer Australia shows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer compared to the general population,” he said.

“Being smoke-free is important for elite sporting performance and through working with the Power Aboriginal programs we have a fantastic vehicle to get the message across into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the country.”

The Power dropped its first game of the season on the weekend with a 17-point loss to Brisbane but has made a promising start to the year with wins over Melbourne and Carlton.

“The injection of our youth and new coaches has been really exciting, and with a couple of new captains we’ve been really fresh, but we have some improvement ahead of us,” Motlop said.

“Personally being fit to complete pre-season helps a lot. The older you get the more attention to detail you’ve got to have and my body is in a good place at the moment.

“I’m working in the forwardline with Nathan Bassett and Jarrod Schofield in the midfield as well because we’ve been getting different looks in games and have to be able to play different roles which is something I want to do.”

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