The Swans Round 9 clash against Carlton at the SCG will see both teams battle it out for the annual Marngrook trophy.

The match honours the indigenous roots of Australian football and recognises the valuable contribution of Indigenous players to the game.

Traditionally contested between Sydney and Essendon, the trophy has recently been awarded to the winner of the club’s indigenous round match each season.

Marngrook is the name given to a traditional game played during a corroboree of the Djawurrung and Jardwadjali clans in Victoria’s Western District. It is believe that this game is one of the inspirations behind Australian Football as we know it today.

The traditional game was played with a ball made from possum skin, about the size of an orange, which was filled with pounded charcoal and/or grass and was bound into a hard ball with Kangaroo sinews and then kicked and tossed by two opposing teams of up to 50 players.

Dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes wrote of the special connection between Marngrook and Australian Football in The Australian Game of Football.

“I believe Marngrook played a role in the development of Australian Football,” Goodes wrote.

“I do know we were playing a similar game for the joy and excitement of it, before the said foudners of the game, Tom Wills and James Thompson and William Hammersley and Thomas Smith came along.

“I don’t know the truth, but I believe in the connection. Because I know that when Aborigines play Australian  Football with a clear mind and total focus, we are born to play it.”

The meaning of Marngrook translates to 'Game Ball', and it is believed the founder of Australian football, Tom Wills, observed a game of Marngrook in the 1840's and thought it would be a good way for Australian cricketers to keep fit during the winter months.

The Swans have won the trophy on nine occasions since its inception in 2002.