Freeman said introducing an Indigenous guernsey had been on the club’s agenda for some time.

“We think we’re a really great community club, and we want to promote inclusiveness across all aspects of the community,” they said.

“We’ll also be working on a Pride jumper at some stage as well, but particularly the Indigenous jumper came about from recognising the connection to the land which we play footy on.

“And also there are some limitations with the junior and the senior teams having a separate jumper at the moment so it’s a really good way to promote connectivity through those two teams.”

The jumper retains the Bulls’ core colours of dark green and gold and incorporates elements from Indigenous lore.

The guernsey’s designer is Wurundjeri, Dja Dja Wurrung and Ngurai Illum Wurrung artist Ky-ya Nicholson Ward, who in recent years has also created designs for numerous other sports clubs, including the guernseys that were worn by both North Melbourne and Melbourne/Naarm in the 2022 AFL Men’s Sir Doug Nicholls Round as well as the Melbourne Storm NRL club and the Melbourne Vixens netball club.

A kingfisher bird, native to the local environment, dominates the right side of the front of the guernsey.

Yellow wavy lines on both the front and back represent the Merri Creek, which provided food and water to the traditional Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung owners and was a place of gathering and ceremony.

Below the wavy lines is orange crosshatching which is a symbol of resilience, strength, connection and teamwork. With orange being a dominant colour of the Giants’ guernsey, it also connects both clubs.

Dark green circular symbols for meeting places connected by thin yellow lines provide the background for both sides of the guernsey to symbolise people uniting and forming bonds in a safe and inclusive environment.

The junior club variant has a lighter shade of green and orange trimming to reflect the usual orange, grey and white jumper that is based on that worn by the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the AFL.

Freeman said the Indigenous guernsey was not a one-off but would be worn several times each season.

“I like to describe us as like a country club in the middle of the city in terms of how we go about the community aspect of it,” said Freeman.

“We come together as a group of people who care about each other.

“We’re working for a common goal and it’s not just about putting the wins on the board, it’s about providing an environment for people to have some community connection, reduce social isolation, the positive mental health benefits, all that kind of stuff.”

The women’s team, which is fifth on the Division 4 ladder with four wins, will be wearing the jumper at home at Allard Park against MCC on Saturday morning.

The senior men, who are who are sitting unbeaten at the top of Division 3 at the halfway mark of the season, are playing away this weekend but both men and women will be at home next Saturday when the Indigenous jumper will again be worn.

The Giants, who play in the Yarra Junior Football League, have a bye this weekend because of school holidays.

The Brunswick Renegades women’s team also sports an alternate Indigenous guernsey, which it first wore in 2022.