Cyclone Seroja: Northampton’s AFL players, including Andrew Lockyer and Harry Taylor, pledge support for town

Northampton-raised footballer Andrew Lockyer says he and other fellow stars of the game from the Mid West town will not stand by and simply watch it suffer. While Lockyer said it was difficult for many of them, including current greats such as Josh Kennedy and his cousins, Eagle Jamie Cripps and Carlton captain Patrick, to do some of the “heavy lifting”, they were doing everything they could to help with their beloved town’s rebuild. The centrepiece of that support is an online auction, which will feature many unique and valuable items and is set to go live at https://app.galabid.com/aflrams on Monday. Items include one-off memorabilia pieces, hospitality packages and even lunch with Northampton football product Paul Hasleby and Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir. Lockyer and fellow Northampton product Harry Taylor, who is back living in the Mid West and playing for the Rams after a successful stint with Geelong, visited their hometown this week and did not hide their heartache. Lockyer said to see his childhood home battered by the cyclone was devastating and was deeply concerned that residents who did have help to rebuild their homes soon would leave the district. “If they don’t see that there is any hope or opportunity or there’s nothing to move to in terms of temporary accommodation they can stay in, then they’ll just go,” he said. “Go talk to the bloke who is living in his car, they don’t even know where he is now. Or talk to the family members living in sheds. “For some of us, we can’t do a lot physically, but we’re chipping in where we can. We want to bring it to light that this isn’t all over and in many ways, it’s just starting.” It is understood moves are being made for several of Northampton’s past AFL starts to attend a Rams match on June 19 to help raise further funds for the town. Money will also be raised at tomorrow’s game between Northampton and Railways, which was originally fixtured to be played at Kalbarri. In April, Patrick Cripps backed the AFL Rams Community Support Fund to provide the hard-hit towns with some relief. “Back home is starting to rebuild after the cyclone ... it’s a place that has given many of us a great community to grow up in and be proud to be from there,” he said. Kennedy previously said it was “scary” to think about what people had and were still going through post-cyclone. “It is a pretty resilient town, both Kalbarri and Northampton and the community has come together,” he said. “A lot of people are safe, but a lot of people lost their homes, which is quite sad for all of us. The rebuild is going to take a long time, so hopefully we can get something going to direct some funds to the people in need and help in any way we can to get them back on their feet.” Jamie Cripps expressed his sadness that his former family home in Northampton had been reduced to rubble. In the days after the cyclone, Hasleby returned to Northampton to help families members in the clean up.