Sir Doug Nicholls Round will be extra special for promising Crow Wayne Milera Junior this year.

Milera’s uncle Roger Rigney has designed the Club’s 2018 Indigenous guernsey to celebrate the Round and the contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to the Club and the wider community.

The guernsey, which will be worn in Adelaide’s Round 11 clash with Greater Western Sydney at Adelaide Oval on Sunday, June 3, has an overarching theme of ‘bringing people together’.

It depicts Adelaide Oval, as the location which brings everyone involved in the Club together to Fly As One.

Also at the centerpiece is the Club’s 23 past and present Indigenous players, as well as the communities they are connected to.

Rigney said he had watched Milera progress through the junior football ranks to earn himself a spot on the Crows’ list and was thrilled when he was approached to do the 2018 design.

“I’m a passionate Crows man, I’ve been a member for a long time, and when I was approached by the Club, via Wayne, to do the design I was honoured,” Rigney said.

“I had a long deep think about it all, it was about bringing people together – the supporters, sponsors, players – in a guernsey for the Club to acknowledge past and present Indigenous players. 

“The highlight for me is having the 23 dots, which represent the 23 past and present Indigenous Crows players, and the crow tracks, which represent the Club, all in the heart of the guernsey.”

The guernsey was unveiled to Adelaide’s current Indigenous players on Wednesday and Milera said he felt privileged to put it on.

“This is a great Club and I’m really strong about my Indigenous culture so it’s a really proud moment to wear it,” Milera said.

“Sir Doug Nicholls Round is a special Round for me and it makes it extra special that he’s (Roger) designed it.

“My favourite part is the pathways and how it explains all of the people involved in our journey to getting to the AFL. There’s been a lot of people that have helped my journey.”

CROWmania: Buy our 2018 Indigenous guernsey


The Club's 2018 Indigenous guernsey

Sir Doug Nicholls Round is always significant for forward Eddie Betts, who said he loved the colour in this year’s guernsey design.

“The whole of the design resonates with me personally,” Betts said.

“Speaking about my journey, and how I got to AFL footy, if you look at the big circle in the middle, that represents Adelaide Oval, past and present players are the white dots around and then there is the communities. The communities aren’t just connected to Adelaide Oval, they’re connected to other communities as well which is like us Indigenous players on this team, we’re connected in different ways.

“If you look at the blue footsteps that’s the other players making their journey to Adelaide Oval as well and all the blue dots are the fans and other people connected to the Club coming together as one and watching us perform at Adelaide Oval.”

Betts said he looks forward to the Round each year and embraces the opportunity to represent not only his family but also the Indigenous people and culture. 

“It’s one of the most important weeks for me. I think we’ve still got a long way to go in the education space and in Indigenous Round we can learn a lot about our culture,” Betts said. 

“For me personally with Indigenous Round, I just love looking at all of the other guernseys as well because there’s a different story, a different tribe, and you get to know the design and a bit about the different tribes from all around Australia.”

Purchase tickets for Indgenous Round on Sunday, June 3 v GWS at Adelaide Oval via Ticketek here,