Following his stunning call up to the Queensland side for the decider, debutant Gehamat Shibasaki hopes his story of perseverance can help inspire other Indigenous people to persist with their dreams, whatever they be.
Observing NAIDOC Week this week, which includes celebrating Indigenous achievement, Shibasaki’s story is an inspiring one that highlights the importance of self-belief, hard work and a strong support system.
Hailing from the Torres Strait Islands, the centre’s journey since making his NRL debut in 2018 has been well documented and he has now finally found his feet back at the Broncos to be in career best form.
However, it was a long journey to get to the top, with Shibasaki saying his message – especially to young Indigenous kids – was to keep working hard.
“Especially for the Indigenous community, a lot of (kids) back home come down here for boarding school and stuff like that, and they get homesick and they go back home,” Shibasaki said.
“But if they stick it out even longer and just work a little bit harder, then it's possible.”
Alongside Shibasaki in the Maroons squad, the Torres Strait Islands are also represented by fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and forward Reuben Cotter, while the extended squad also includes fellow Indigenous stars Reece Walsh, J’Maine Hopgood and Josh Kerr.
Kerr, who co-captained the Indigenous All Stars team in their representative match against the Māori All Stars earlier this year, struck a chord in his post-match speech, exclaiming “culture elevates culture”.
In observing NAIDOC Week, Kerr said it was a good opportunity to take stock of the progress Australia had made with regards to Indigenous policy over the years; but was also an chance to address areas that needed improvement.
“It's a good ‘stop and smell the roses’ sort of week where you look at how far our people have come in in terms of everything that's happened,” Kerr said.
“You don't really like looking back on the past and thinking about all those a atrocities and things that happened; however, you need to have that bit of pain and you need to look back at it and say, ‘alright, how can we do better in life’.
“I really feel like this week that's coming up is so important, just that recognition of everything and everyone, and it's not just Indigenous Australians … I just really feel like it's a great week and opportunity for a lot of learning and education around what's happened in the past and how do we build that and make sure it never happens again in the future.
“The bittersweet thing about NAIDOC Week is that you feel like while you get all these issues out in that one week; it's one of those things where it's like, ‘well, do we just dedicate one week to talk about these issues’ and then, do we do anything about it? Do we just talk about what the issues are?
“It's like a real smell the roses week where you can say ‘look how far we've come’, but it's also a cry for help to say ‘listen, look at everything else that's happening’.
“One of the best things we can do is help educate our young kids coming through so that they know to do better in the future – but does that mean we have to wait until then, or can we get everyone to change now?”
Hopgood, from the Gureng Gureng people, is an ambassador for Deadly Choices and agreed NAIDOC Week was an important event to be acknowledged and a chance to continue making progress on issues that affect Indigenous people across the board, including health outcomes.
“It's extremely important … just to provide information to everyone else about what the week's about for us,” Hopgood said.
“With my work with Deadly Choices, it's just promoting health and well-being into the community and just making sure everyone's looking after themselves.
“Indigenous Round as well in the NRL's coming up soon too, so that's another important week to showcase our culture and it's always special to be a part of.”
A former Indigenous All Stars representative as well, Hopgood was honoured by his club the Parramatta Eels last year during NRL Indigenous Round when the unveiled a special jersey featuring his totem, the owl.
Hopgood said overall, he thought the NRL and clubs had embraced learning more about Indigenous – and also Pasifika – culture in recent seasons, understanding the importance of how it shapes a player as a person.
“I think the clubs are really taking a big initiative cultural diversity, all the clubs,” Hopgood said.
“Us at Parra, we did a big cultural night (in a camp) we had in Lennox Head … before this year, I was the only Aboriginal boy in the team, but we have got Foxxy [Josh Addo-Carr] there with me now, and it's good to have him there and just help drive it.
“We got some dancers in Lennox Head, the boys from Tweed Heads that do our All Stars camp and we did a dance for the boys and then that was followed by the Samoan boys and Tonga boys, they all got up and did a dance.
“So, I think that was just educating everyone on culture – and not having to bore them with a slideshow, but just showing song and dance. Everyone buys into it.
“Last year, with the club doing a jersey around my totem (shows) the clubs are taking massive steps towards helping us boys showcase our culture, which is a main and important thing.”
*National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Week celebrates and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The 2025 theme, set by the National NAIDOC Committee, is "The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy,". This celebrates not only the achievements of the past but the bright future ahead, empowered by the strengths of young leaders, the vision of communities, and the legacy of all ancestors. NRL encourages our rugby league fans and community to attend a local event, head to nrl.com for more information
