It seems the teams will be announced on Wednesday.
All Stars give AFL recruits a showcase Daniel Lewis, Sydney
January 31, 2011 THERE'S the pressure of high expectations for any player signed to an AFL club, then there's the kind of pressure you get when, without ever having played an AFL game, your dad - the Northern Territory sports minister, no less - likens you to a great like Andrew McLeod.
If that wasn't enough pressure, the Aboriginal All Stars team you are likely to play for is to have its big match against Richmond shifted to your home town of Alice Springs.
That's what faces 17-year-old Greater Western Sydney recruit Curtly Hampton.
Ahead of the game on Friday, Hampton was in Blacktown yesterday with the AFL's other indigenous talent as part of a three-day AFL Players' Association camp operating out of Redfern's National Centre of Indigenous Excellence.
A record 86 indigenous players are on AFL lists and Hampton promises to be a standout.
Territory-born McLeod, who retired last year after 16 seasons with Adelaide, is one of the AFL's greatest indigenous players and a previous captain of the All Stars team.
He will also help pick the 2011 team.
This is the 10th such camp for indigenous players.
The All Stars coach, former Sydney player Michael O'Loughlin, said the camp was a selection exercise for his team and also allowed young players to learn from mentors such as All Stars captain Adam Goodes.
The most common question was about how to have a long professional playing career, he said.
The All Stars team, which had its only defeat in 2007 when it played Essendon, is to be named on Wednesday.
Not all indigenous players are available for selection and O'Loughlin said it was likely some young recruits would be thrown ''into the deep end''.
Asked if he had the raw materials available to pick a side that can beat Richmond, O'Loughlin said: ''It's certainly going to be a challenge.
''The Tigers are on the way up. We've got our work cut out. There's not too much height. We're looking for a ruckman, if you know somebody, send them down to the camp and we'll select them.''
Monsoon rain has made Darwin's Marrara Oval unsafe so the game will be played at Traegar Park in Alice Springs, with Hampton's father Karl - the local member of parliament - hoping for a crowd of at least 10,000.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/all-stars-give-afl-recruits-a-showcase-20110130-1a9oa.html