NRL All Stars 2017: Greg Inglis reveals what journalist Stan Grant said to inspire Indigenous players

"When you run out on the field and you look to each other, and you look to our people in the stands and see our flag flying you can say that on this day and on this field, they are not going to take it."

That was the final message in an inspirational 25-minute speech by award-winning journalist Stan Grant to Indigenous players ahead of Friday night's annual NRL All Stars match at Newcastle's McDonald-Jones Stadium.

Role model: Greg Inglis makes a spear during the Indigenous All Stars camp.Credit: NRL Photos/Robb Cox

After more than 200 years of struggle, Indigenous Australians are moving forward and the players in camp on Sydney Harbour last weekend were told that they are part of a rarely heard story about Aboriginal success.

"Yes, we are over-represented in our prisons, but for every Aboriginal person in prison there are four and almost five times more Aboriginal people graduating from university," Grant said.

Sharing a message of hope: Stan Grant.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

"That doesn't tell us that we are failing, it tells us that we are a successful people and we need to reclaim that success.

"We need to focus on the success that you have or the success of some kid who has graduated from university and by focusing on that we help the kid who is struggling or the woman who is jail."

If hearing of a 75 per cent increase in Aboriginal doctors, lawyers, scientists, teachers and architects during the past decade impressed the players, so should the targets outlined in the NRL's revised Reconciliation Action Plan.

While 12 per cent of NRL players are Indigenous, compared to 4 per cent of the Australian population, the aim is to increase that to 15 per cent, while also boosting the game's Aboriginal work force from 4 per cent to 5 per cent.

Connected: The players practise their Indigenous dance during a camp on Clark Island. Credit: NRL Photos/Robb Cox

"Being in the position we are in, we can go back and educate our communities," superstar fullback Greg Inglis said. "We are here because we want to be successful and every time we get knocked down we get back up and go again."

Inglis will again lead the Indigenous dance before the All Stars match that many are hoping will be adopted by the Kangaroos during this year's World Cup and the players looked more comfortable practising on the beach than they had in previous seasons.

The rehearsal was turned into a team building exercise as the players split into two groups for a dance off, while they also competed in teams to start fires by rubbing pieces of wood together.

After learning to make a traditional spear from timber during a visit to Clark Island on Sunday, the players attracted some odd stares when they arrived back at Circular Quay and carried them up a set of stairs to Macquarie Street.

We are here because we want to be successful and every time we get knocked down we get back up and go again

Greg Inglis

While on the boat they received a history lesson from Tribal Warrior CEO Shane Phillips, who was part of the first Indigenous crew to sail in the Sydney to Hobart race and is the man behind the revival of the Redfern All Blacks.

Pointing to a join in the carpet on the floor of the boat, Phillips told the players the line represented 11,000 years of Indigenous history and a small tear was the first 200 years of white settlement.

"The ice age was 11,000 years ago and every 1000 years our people have had to overcome something that potentially put us on the edge of extinction but each time we fought back and survived," Phillips said.

"We have now come past that little scratch [in the carpet] and are at the beginning of the next 1000 years."

Inglis, who also had a turn at playing the didgeridoo, added: "We are the first people who have been walking this land for a very long time now and if you want to go on that scenario you draw a line in the sand and you start over. That is what our ancestors and our people have been doing for the last 10,000 years."

For some of the players the history was more recent and personal, with Grant telling the story of his grandfather and the great-grandfather of Canberra fullback Jack Wighton who enlisted in the army together, despite Aboriginals not being officially recognised under the Australian constitution.

"I knew my great-grandfather was in the army but I didn't know anything about that," Wighton said. "It was really good for me to hear that and it is something I will be thinking about on Friday night."

Grant wants the players to also think about what Indigenous Australians had endured since 1788, including 64 changes to the definition of what legally constitutes an Aboriginal, and the achievements since making the first open-sea journey 60,000 years ago.

"That is what you are playing for," Grant said. "When you go out and play on Friday night, you are the best of us. Every one of you is a product of the success, sacrifice and endurance of your ancestors.

"No one can tell you who you are because you know who you are. When you go out and put that uniform on you are playing for each other and for each of us.

"And by doing well and succeeding and making something of your lives you are not just doing your own people proud you are making Australia a better country."

Brad Walter was a invited as a guest of the NRL to report on the Indigenous Player Camp.