STRADBROKE Island played a key role in Saturday night's gripping NRL pre-season match between the Indigenous All Stars and the World All Stars at Suncorp Stadium.
Despite the intensive training and glamping at Straddie's Adams Beach last week, the Indigenous side, led by captain Greg Inglis, went down 12-8 to Cameron Smith's world All Stars.
At full time, the Indigenous All Stars were 8 with tries from indigenous forward Leilani Latu and winger Dane Gagai with World All Stars 12 following tries from centre Konrad Hurrell, Semi Radradra and two goals from Adam Reynolds.
The Indigenous All Stars held their pre-match training on the island where they were kitted out in colourful NRL Indigenous jerseys.
Before the game, NRL head of football Todd Greenberg said he was reviewing the future of the All Stars match.
But after the game, ARL chairman John Grant guaranteed its future telling players behind closed doors that only the timing and format was up for debate.
On the ground on Saturday, the Indigenous All Stars showed their support for indigenous recognition wearing the "R" for Recognise on their jerseys, handed to them on Straddie.
During the week, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten both re-affirmed their commitment to Constitutional Recognition and work for a referendum in 2017.
Mr Turnbull said he was working towards Closing the Gap between indigenous and white Australia.
He said announced $20 million to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies to support language preservation. It was significant for the preservation of Indigenous culture – a theme of the Stradbroke Island training camp.
Also at the Straddie camp, players were given briefings on finding careers after football.
The camp on Straddie has been held for the past four years ahead of the NRL World All Stars macth.
Camp organiser and former NRL star Dean Widders said the Straddie training also created a bond between indigenous players from across the code and gave them the chance to share stories and focus on traditional indigenous values.
The two-day camp also covered mental health, networking, education, and drawing up plans for careers.
Despite representing only 2.5 per cent of the wider community, indigenous footballers make up 13 per cent of NRL players.
Six of the 13 members of the run-on side of the Kangaroos last year were indigenous — as were both skippers in the epic grand final contest between the Justin Hodges-led Brisbane Broncos and Jonathan Thurston’s North Queensland Cowboys.
