{"id":458540,"date":"2026-02-04T20:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/458540\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T20:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T20:11:10","slug":"nrl-2026-why-all-stars-means-so-much-to-indigenous-winger-josh-addo-carr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/458540\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Why All Stars means so much to Indigenous winger Josh Addo-Carr"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Josh-Addo Carr, representing his Indigenous heritage in the annual All Stars fixture means even more now that his son Fox has started school.<\/p>\n

After missing last year\u2019s All Stars due to suspension, Addo-Carr will return for the February 15 match against Aotearoa M\u0101ori at FMG Stadium Waikato determined to inspire his littlest fan.<\/p>\n

Fox, who attended his first day of school this week, was only three-years old when Addo-Carr last played All Stars in 2024 in Townsville.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son, little Fox, he is like my little shadow. He is my little best mate,\u201d Addo-Carr said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I can show him and teach him who he is and where he is from, by seeing his dad do his thing, then when he grows up, he can hopefully chase his dreams and be proud of where he comes from and who he is.<\/p>\n


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\u201cThe whole idea of All Stars is about representing, and the big thing is identity. Some people lose track of that, and I think it\u2019s a very important thing to know your identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addo-Carr was among eight players confirmed for the men\u2019s and women\u2019s All Stars double-header in Hamilton on Thursday. They are:<\/p>\n

Casey McLean (M\u0101ori Men)
\nDallin Watene-Zelezniak (M\u0101ori Men)
\nJosh Addo-Carr (Indigenous Men)
\nJack Wighton (Indigenous Men)
\nGayle Broughton (M\u0101ori Women)
\nTenika Willison (M\u0101ori Women)
\nJada Taylor (Indigenous Women)
\nTaliah Fuimaono (Indigenous Women)<\/p>\n

They joined James Fisher-Harris (M\u0101ori Men), Nicho Hynes (Indigenous Men), Kennedy Cherrington (M\u0101ori Women) and Jaime Chapman (Indigenous Women), whose selections were announced on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Addo-Carr had his first taste of All Stars in 2011 when he played for the NSW U16s Indigenous team against Queensland U16s Indigenous team in the curtain-raiser to the second All Stars match on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

His family turned out to watch him play, as they do nearly every year.<\/p>\n


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Addo-Carr explains powerful anti-racism gesture<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is something I always want to do every year. I am very proud to be Indigenous,\u201d he told NRL.com at the launch of Rexona Rivals, which airs on Kayo Sports on March 1 and pits Addo-Carr, Reece Walsh, Ali Brigginshaw and Jaime Chapman against rival teams from other codes.<\/a><\/p>\n

“It is one thing to represent your country but then it is another thing to represent your people.<\/p>\n

“My family talk about it every year, my family actually love it – my dad, my mum, all of my cousins and brothers and sisters. It puts a smile on their faces knowing us boys are going out there to rip in for them.”<\/p>\n

The Eels winger has the opportunity to become the outright Indigenous All Stars try scoring record holder – a mark he currently shares with Ben Barba.<\/p>\n


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The Foxx grabs a double<\/p>\n

Addo-Carr’s four try haul includes a brace in the Indigenous All Stars 22-14 defeat of the M\u0101ori All Stars in Townsville in 2024 – both of which he finished with a celebratory dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have got little kids out there that are watching us represent our culture and just doing a little shake-a-leg or something like that after you score a try, who knows – they might start getting into Indigenous dancing,” he said.<\/p>\n


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It just shows how proud I am of my culture and they should be too.<\/p>\n


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\u201cThat\u2019s why I do it and hopefully they can take that and represent our culture the best way I can.”<\/p>\n

While some of the biggest names in the game are set to play in All Stars, there may also be some rookies who are yet to make their NRL debut like Josh Kerr (2019), Jamayne Taunoa-Brown (2020) and Shaquai Mitchell (2022).<\/p>\n

Addo-Carr believes the opportunity for rookies to showcase their talents to NRL clubs is another reason the annual All Stars match is so important.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are lucky enough to witness some of the best athletes or rugby league players to ever play the game that are Indigenous so you might find a Greg Inglis or Jonathan Thurston or Cody Walker or Latrell Mitchell from the country,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If these fellows can hold their own against world class players like James Fisher-Harris or Dallen Watene-Zelezniak then you might see them become the best athletes in the world.”<\/p>\n

Tickets to the Harvey Norman All Stars game are selling fast. Head to\u00a0NRL.com\/tickets\u00a0<\/a>to be part of an annual celebration of culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Josh-Addo Carr, representing his Indigenous heritage in the annual All Stars fixture means even more now that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-458540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}