A pair of second-year AFL youngsters were among the players from the Indigenous All Stars side to impress coach Xavier Clarke following the team's 43-point victory over Fremantle.
11-game Cat Lawson Humphries was among the best performers in the spectacle, finding plenty of the ball in the first half in the backline to stamp his authority on the game early.
Humphries recorded 20 disposals, seven marks, seven intercept possessions and move the ball at 90% efficiency against the Dockers to show no slowing down from a promising debut season with Geelong.
Saturday's representative game was just Humphries' second game back in his home state of Western Australia since being drafted by the Cats in 2023 out of Swan Districts, who he won the reserves level premiership with that same year.
His rise to the AFL stage is a journey Clarke hopes many more Indigenous players will take in the coming years, while Humphries' effort for the All Stars wasn't the only eye-catching outing among the squad's younger crop.
Uncapped West Coast ruckman Coen Livingstone took on the ruck role given the lack of available experienced talent in the middle, with the 19-year-old amassing 16 hitouts, six tackles and five touches in the win up against Dockers duo Luke Jackson and Liam Reidy.
Speaking after the match, Clarke said both Livingstone and Humphries have been 'great finds' for their respective clubs.
"Lawson was fantastic," the Indigenous All Stars coach said.
"He's a great player and he's been a great find for the Geelong footy club. They're the beneficiaries, really.
"Hopefully we unearth a few more of those talents, and I think we did tonight. Coen Livingstone's game was outstanding.
"He hasn't played an AFL game and tonight he's going up against two big monster mature-aged ruckmen. I thought he held his own.
"His ability to be able to halve contests at times... there were a couple of times where he got found out but he kept turning up. West Coast have found a player, he's just a competitor.
"Hopefully he can now continue on his AFL journey and have an impact for West Coast."
North Melbourne captain Jy Simpkin was awarded the Polly Farmer Medal as the best afield in the game, earning 11 of a possible 12 votes for his 30-disposal, 10-clearance game.
The performance was exactly what Simpkin had hoped for after being "in a good spot" over summer in his preparations at Arden Street.
The Roos midfielder hopes to translate his form into the home and away season after "a couple of down years".
"I've probably had a couple of down years the last two years personally," he said. "But I've put myself in a good spot over the off-season, pre-season, to come out and have a good season.
"I think today I showed that I can play some good footy and hopefully I can continue that going forward.
"No doubt it has been tough the last few years at the Kangas, especially the win-loss ratio, but I'll enjoy my footy, anywhere it is.
"When you sit back and look at it like that, I'm pretty lucky to be in the position I am, captain of North Melbourne and running out there with my brothers. I just love what I do."
Clarke, Simpkin's assistant coach at the Kangaroos, spoke of the pleasure in seeing the midfielder thrive on Saturday's stage following adversity.
The game has also given Clarke confidence that Simpkin could enter a career-best year in the blue and white.
"I'm proud of him. He's a great leader of our football club at North Melbourne and he's been through a lot himself over the last couple of months," Clarke said.
"For him to play in this game and come out and did what he done, I'm more proud of him and just pumped for him to be able to represent his family and get the reward.
"You talk about setting up his season, I've got no doubt that he's done that, and I'll be surprised if that doesn't transfer to North Melbourne.
"It's just ironic that obviously I'm at North and he's our North captain, we're both sitting here together. I'm happy for him."
