Dees unveil Indigenous guernsey celebrating Nyirripi
Melbourne Football Club has unveiled its 2026 Indigenous guernsey, a design created in Nyirripi that honours the club’s long-standing connection with the Warlpiri community in the Northern Territory, 440km out of Alice Springs.
Made in Nyirripi, for Nyirripi, the new guernsey will be worn during Sir Doug Nicholls Round. Melbourne will don the jumper at its home game in Round 10 and again in Round 12 as the home team in the club’s annual Alice Springs match.
Key Points
- Melbourne FC unveils 2026 Indigenous guernsey celebrating Nyirripi
- Design by Nyirripi artist Vanetta Nampijinpa Hudson, Warlpiri stories
- All guernsey profits to be reinvested in Nyirripi community
- Players visited Nyirripi in 2025; design revealed 12 months later
- Club to wear guernsey in Rounds 10 and 12, not Round 11
- Narrm Football Club rebrand returns for Sir Doug Nicholls Round
Nyirripi is home to the Nyirripi Demons and sits on the land of the Warlpiri People. The club describes the town’s strong identification with Melbourne’s red and blue, from signage at the town entrance to children wearing Dees jumpers.
Artist and cultural storytelling
This year’s guernsey was designed by Nyirripi artist Vanetta Nampijinpa Hudson. Her work shares stories passed down through her father and grandfather over millennia. She paints Warlukurlangu Jukurrpa (Fire Dreaming), with motifs connected to Country, its features, and the plants and animals that inhabit it.
Hudson grew up in Nyirripi and also attended Worawa Aboriginal College in Melbourne, a partner of the Jim Stynes Foundation.
The club’s relationship with Nyirripi spans more than a decade. Melbourne’s first Indigenous guernsey, released in 2014, was designed by Ursula Napangardi Hudson, Vanetta’s mother. The club has maintained the connection as a priority of its partnership with the Northern Territory, visiting Nyirripi on multiple occasions to share in football and community activities.
