Indigenous All Stars: West Coast Eagles star Liam Ryan opens up on what it means to represent All Stars

West Coast high flyer Liam Ryan says it is a dream come true to play with the best Indigenous footballers in the country — a decade after they last came together — and doesn’t want to wait as long next time. Ryan is one of the megastars confirmed to play for the Indigenous All Stars against Fremantle at Optus Stadium on February 15. The buy-in has been unprecedented, with Kysaiah Pickett, Brad Hill and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan among the high-profile players locked in. Ryan hopes the highly-anticipated match, which will be played for the first time since 2015, can now happen at least every two years. And he even hopes the star power could be a precursor to the return of State of Origin football. “I grew up watching blokes like Goodesy (Adam Goodes) and Lewis Jetta play in it and it was my dream to try and play in a game like this,” Ryan said as the team’s jumper was unveiled on Thursday. “Hopefully it keeps going from now on. Not every year, but every couple, I think it would be good for the AFL and communities around Australia. “I looked up to all of them, to be honest, all the Indigenous past players. “I reckon it should be every couple of years, even bring other games back, like State of Origin.” Fremantle veteran Michael Walters has also been named but is racing the clock to be fit after going under the knife for a clean-out of his knee. Dockers teammate Caleb Serong said he was desperate to play. “He’s doing everything he can, everything he can,” he said. “He is super excited about this opportunity, he is a proud Indigenous man, he leads the way for our club in this space and it would be an incredibly special moment for him to be able to run around on that day.” Ryan was unflinching when the league’s national Indigenous engagement manager Pauly Vandenbergh, called him to ask him to play. “Pauly rang me and said ‘are you going to play?’ and I said ‘yes — F yes’, it’ll be exciting,” Ryan. Fremantle captain Alex Pearce will lead the backline for the All Stars team, but Ryan couldn’t promise an awful lot of defence would be played in what looms as a scoring fest. “All us Indigenous boys know offence, but we don’t know defence, so it’s going to be good.” The team, picked by Sydney legend Michael O’Loughlin, already includes a dangerous fleet of small forwards. The mystery position is the ruck, with only two Indigenous specialists on AFL lists. Uncapped Eagle Coen Livingstone could be a chance to play. “I think I’m going to have to play ruck,” Ryan joked. “I hope so. I keep putting the pressure on him (Livingstone). I say ‘you might be playing, you’re the only Indigenous ruck’, him and (St Kilda youngster) Isaac Keeler. You never know, he might get picked.” Ryan said the match was about “just putting your arms around each other and showing love” and hinted some of the Indigenous guns would be trying to outdo each other. He tipped new Docker Shai Bolton or Pickett would leave with the best highlight reel. “You might see more from Shai (Bolton) ... or Kozzie (Pickett) might get happy and try take a screamer,” he said.