Indigenous mentors Greg Inglis and Dean Widders offered similar observations as cultural engagements for players have been stepped up significantly across the past two Indigenous camps.

The NRL’s support of the Uluru Statement, seeking to enshrine a First Nations voice in the constitution, will see youth campaigners join the men’s and women’s teams ahead of Saturday’s match as Widders also pointed New Zealand’s approach as one he’d like to see replicated in Australian society.

“You drive around here and the Maccas has a Maori welcome sign,” Widders said.

“The language is taught in the schools and the culture’s really embedded here.

“We’re getting stopped everywhere with people coming up to us and telling us how much they respect our culture. That attitude – in Australia we’ve got to keep working towards that as a country. We’re on the path.

“And we did see on January 26 in Australia this year, it was totally different to what it was two or three years ago. And it’ll be totally different in two or three years time again.”

Inglis especially has been a hit with Kiwi audiences all week as he helps mentor the Indigenous men’s and women’s sides.

With the 1973 Aboriginal All Stars joining the current teams in camp, Tuesday’s traditional Pohiri welcoming ceremony held special significance for the Queensland great.

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“It’s remarkable what we’re seeing here. It’s very different to Australia and of course there’s a language barrier there,” Inglis said.

“There’s a bit of a push now for people to pick up our languages again, and there are hundreds of them. But if we didn’t lose them in the beginning then we wouldn’t be playing catch up.

“The welcome we had, that’ll go down in history. And we might not realise it now, but it was a historic moment.

“We’ve got the older generation that was here with us 50 years ago, and they still talk about when they first came here as a mob. Fifty years from now, hopefully we’re talking about this trip in the same way.”