This Sunday the Cats will pull on the club’s Indigenous guernsey once again to show their support of the community education program Closing the Gap.

Closing the Gap is designed to deliver health-promoting messages to positively impact health outcomes for Aboriginal people. The Geelong Cats’ commitment to Closing the Gap is reflected through a number of programs throughout the club, namely The Gathering.

This week Geelong Cats have had the pleasure of welcoming 50 young local Aboriginal people to Simonds Stadium during a four-day camp to celebrate the inaugural The Gathering.

The children will experience Sunday’s match day between the Cats and the Bulldogs at Simonds Stadium and three days at Cottage by the Sea in Queenscliff. During their stay they’ll enjoy an array of team building activities and programs, while learning significant health education messages along the way.

The club’s seven Aboriginal players, Mathew Stokes, Steven Motlop, Allen Christensen, Travis Varcoe, Joel Hamling, Brad Hartman and Zac Bates, will also take part in the camp to help encourage young people from Geelong and the Barwon South West region to sustain a healthy life style.

The Gathering is part of the club’s commitment to close the Health Gap between Aboriginal and non Aboriginal Australians and is proudly supported by Target and the Geelong Cats Foundation.

In celebration of Closing the Gap and The Gathering, an Indigenous representative from both the Geelong Cats and Western Bulldogs will be present at the coin toss with their Captains at Sunday’s game. The Geelong Cats have included this initiative at the last 3 Closing the Gap Rounds, as a symbolic gesture that closing the health gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Australians is everybody’s issue – not just one to be addressed by the Aboriginal community.

Local Aboriginal artist BJ O'Toole, who designed the artwork for the Geelong Cats Indigenous guernsey, will perform the coin toss for Round 16 on Sunday. This will be the second time the Cats wear the Indigenous guernsey after it was officially unveiled for the AFL Indigenous Round against Sydney in May.

Before kick off the under 12 Victorian Indigenous champions will form a guard of honour for the Geelong players when they run out through the banner.