The 2015 NRL Community Carnival is set to enter its biggest week yet, with NRL Community Ambassadors and players from eight clubs set to see more than 50,000 students across Australia and New Zealand from Monday.
Leading the week's activity will be the St George Illawarra Dragons and Wests Tigers, who will collectively visit 30,000 students on the South Coast and Inner West Sydney respectively over Monday and Tuesday.
The Dragons will also make another appearance in the community later in the week, visiting local schools in Kogarah on Thursday.
After an extensive schedule of visits in the Upper Hunter community last week, the Knights will complete their Community Carnival with visits by Marvin Filipo and Lachlan Fitzgibbon to 2,000 students in Merewether on Monday.
On Tuesday, the Melbourne Storm will begin their Community Carnival campaign, visiting 10,000 students across 40 schools in Melbourne in addition to a rural visit to schools in Mildura on Wednesday and Thursday.
In the Sunshine State, the Brisbane Broncos will send players including Darius Boyd and Travis Waddell to visit 22 schools across Emerald on Monday, while the North Queensland Cowboys and Gold Coast Titans will both visit schools across Cairns on Friday.
NRL Community Ambassadors including Petero Civoniceva and Nathan Hindmarsh will spend three days in Warwick in Queensland's southeast, visiting 25 schools and hosting three 'come and try' clinics.
The New Zealand Warriors will continue their visits throughout the country after this week's earlier tour of Rotorua, making their way to schools in Auckland next Friday.
The past week of Community Carnival activity has reached 30,000 students, with some particularly special visits undertaken by clubs including the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the drought-affected town of Moree, and the Parramatta Eels visit to 1,000 students in Alice Springs.
Now in its 15th year, the NRL Community Carnival has extraordinary reach, with more than 250,000 students across Australia and New Zealand projected to receive visits from NRL players over the four-week campaign (2 – 27 February).
The community message of this year's event is wellbeing, focussing on everything from nutrition and healthy eating to the importance of regular exercise and its effect on mental health.
