Willie Rioli Snr knows the Bombers well.

The Tiwi Bombers Coach spent time with Essendon players and coaching staff in the lead up to the Dreamtime game last season.

So he knew how significant it would be for his team and community when Essendon made the trip north.

“It not only helps the players, it helps the community,” he said.

“The community looks forward to it.  The people there just embrace you guys, any AFL teams that come up there.

“I know my Tiwi Bombers supporters get a lot out of you guys so it’s really tremendous to have the Essendon Football Club involved.” 

Essendon players Courtenay Dempsey, Shaun Edwards and Jake Long visited the Tiwi Islands and watched Rioli’s team play in the Northern Territory Football League. 

“The guys that I coach they come from all parts of Tiwi,” he said. 

“It’s fast, it’s furious, sometimes it’s hectic.  We’re obviously trying to get the boys to play a more disciplined, hard brand of football.

“We’ve got to tell them to slow down sometimes.”

With the Essendon players watching on, the Tiwi Bombers kicked nine goals in the third term to take control of the match.

In the last quarter, they conceded nine goals and ended up going down by a small margin.

There was little breeze, but temperature hovered in the high 30’s.

It was football in its purest form.  

The Tiwi players looked to attack at every opportunity but they also seemed to take more pleasure in setting up a teammate for a goal, than they did kicking one themselves.

During his time at Essendon, Rioli was given access to the inner sanctum, spending time in coaches meetings, match review sessions and selection discussions. 

“It was just a really tremendous experience for me to see the way the Assistant Coaches get a bit more involved in the game,” Rioli said.

“So just little things like that that I was able to kick back and have a look at training. 

“There were some really good things that I picked from there.”

Essendon is continuing the coaching exchange this season. 

This year's participants will again sit in on coaches meetings, including the defensive ones.

The Tiwi Bombers were defeated, but there was no shortage of entertainment during the match.