There are just three indigenous players in the ranks of soccer's men's A-league, as many are drawn to the bigger stage of an AFL or NRL career. It's a damning statistic one teenager is hell bent on changing through his own journey into professional soccer.
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00:00It's another baking hot day in Adelaide and Bailey O'Neill is pushing through the pain
00:07barrier.
00:11The teenager has already represented Australia at underage level and is putting his hand
00:16up to make his A-League debut.
00:18Very aggressive, I like 1v1s, I like battles, I like to defend, get forward and be very
00:27powerful moving forward with speed.
00:29Like all soccer talents who dream big, the 18-year-old wants to eventually play overseas,
00:35not just for himself, but to inspire a generation.
00:40If I can do as well as I can and perform on the pitch, I can try and influence young Indigenous
00:45kids to play the game.
00:47Watching over his shoulder is former player and now Reds assistant coach Travis Dodd,
00:53who likes what he sees in O'Neill.
00:55It's just like street smarts, I think I'd put it down to little things off the ball
00:59just to put your opponent off and these little niggly things that you can't really teach
01:05that.
01:06Travis was my idol growing up, I watched him play in the A-League and for the Socceroos
01:12and he was the first Indigenous player to score for the Socceroos.
01:16Despite the likes of Dodd having illustrious careers, O'Neill is one of just three Indigenous
01:22players in current A-League squads.
01:24The former Socceroos says the AFL and NRL's domination of sporting coverage is a huge
01:30factor and both are determined to change it.
01:33Yeah, they can look up to me and just look at me as sort of a role model and try and
01:38do their best.
01:39Baby steps and hopefully we can get that ball rolling and love to see it snowball into an
01:47avalanche and hopefully we can see an influx of players in years to come.