Bendigo's Daniel Wridgway and Mitch Kirley are up against the country's best at the 2019 AFL National Inclusion Carnival in Sydney.
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Wridgway is the Vic Country team manager and assistant coach, while Kirley is a squad member, with both making their carnival debut.
The carnival brings together male footballers 16-years and above with an intellectual disability for a round-robin style Australian rules football tournament.
Throughout the week-long carnival the players will participate in numerous educational sessions.
"It really is amazing to see what people can achieve when they receive support and encouragement," Wridgway said.
Wridgway said the carnival was about more than winning.
"The carnival is about much more, some of the friendships that are formed here are incredible," he said.
"All the players are buzzing the entire time, the sense of community and inclusiveness is just amazing.
"The more exposure this carnival gets, the bigger and better it's going to be. From where it was when it started to where it is now is just incredible."
Vic Country's round-robin results
- R1: def Tasmania 6.3 (39) - 0.0 (0)
- R2: def NSW/ACT 4.4 (28) - 0.0 (0)
- R3: def by Northern Territory 4.1 (25) - 1.2 (8)
- R4: drew to Queensland 2.1 (13) - 2.1 (13)
- R5: def by Vic Metro 4.2 (26) - 2.1 (13)
- R6: def by South Australia 2.0 (12) - 1.3 (9)
- R7: def Western Australia 4.3 (27) - 0.0 (0)
The teams will commence division one and two matches on Thursday before playing finals under lights on Friday.
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