STICK WITH IT: RUGBY LEAGUE COMMUNITY POWERS MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA

Goanna Academy

MEDIA RELEASE

Monday 3 August 2026

GREG INGLIS & THE GOANNA ACADEMY SET TO DELIVER 50+ MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS

DONATIONS, STRAPPING TAPE & MERCHANDISE STILL AVAILABLE AT GOANNAACADEMY.ORG.AU

IMAGES & ASSETS OF 2026 CAMPAIGN AVAILABLE HERE 

Sydney, Monday 3 August 2026 - When Greg Inglis asked the rugby league community to tape up this July, they answered.

The Goanna Academy’s Stick With It campaign has wrapped for 2026 and thanks to the extraordinary generosity of players, fans, clubs and communities from coast to coast, more communities than ever will be able to access Goanna Academy's vital mental health clinics and programs.

From Cairns to Perth, Dubbo to Canberra, and Western Sydney to Melbourne and beyond, the Goanna Academy’s Stick With It campaign has turned a simple piece of strapping tape into something far more powerful — real, lasting support for communities where it is needed most.

In just one month, enough Stick With It tape was sold to stretch across more than 32 rugby league fields. 

The campaign also saw NRL and NRLW players including Nicho Hynes, Olivia Kernick, Dane Gagai, Isabelle Kelly, Jess Sergis, Isaiya Katoa, Teagan Berry, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Taliah Fuimaono, AJ Brimson, Corban Baxter, Valentine Holmes, Tallisha Harden and more wearing the tape throughout the weekend. 

Across the next 12 months, Goanna Academy will deliver more than 50 preventative mental health clinics and programs right across Australia with the generosity shown over the past month that the Stick With It campaign has been running, helping to further reduce barriers for communities to access them.

Goanna Academy Founder Greg Inglis said the response from the rugby league community had moved him deeply.

"We’re incredibly grateful. I'm genuinely blown away by what this community has come together to do. When we launched this campaign, we asked people to put a piece of tape on their wrist. What they've given back is so much more than that."

"Every dollar donated, every piece of merch purchased, every player who taped up… it all adds up to something real. To clinics in communities that haven't had this kind of support before. To kids in schools getting the tools to ask for help. To people knowing they don't have to go through this alone."

"This campaign means we can reach more communities, remove more barriers and show up for more people. That is what your support has made possible. I can't thank you enough."

"Thanks to everyone who contributed and because of your generosity, we are now going to reach more people, in more places, than we ever have before. That's what this means. You've all helped make this happen."

Donations remain open and strapping tape and merchandise can still be purchased at goannaacademy.org.au. Every purchase directly funds Goanna Academy's mental health education programs.

Goanna Academy thanks the Nine Network, Nine Cares, Fox League, Triple M, SEN, 2GB, ABC, NRL and NRLW participating clubs and players, as well as the many grassroots community sports clubs across the country for their incredible generosity and support of the Stick With It campaign. 

Together with the investment of the Australian Government and the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), this support is helping ensure more Australians, particularly those in regional and remote communities, have access to culturally safe, preventative mental health education.

Mental Health in Australia — The Facts

• 9 Australians lose their life to suicide every day

• More than 150 Australians attempt suicide every day

• Suicide is the leading cause of death among Australians aged 15–44

• Three in four Australians who die by suicide are male

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience suicide rates around twice that of non-Indigenous Australians

• People living in very remote Australia experience suicide rates more than twice as high as those in major cities

About Goanna Academy

Goanna Academy is Australia’s first Indigenous-owned preventative mental health education provider, founded by proud Dunghutti and Kamilaroi man and NRL Hall of Fame inductee Greg Inglis. Through culturally safe, evidence-informed programs delivered in schools, communities, workplaces and on Country, Goanna Academy is building stronger, more connected communities across Australia.

Our Purpose: No One Suffers Alone.

goannaacademy.org.au

If You or Someone You Know Is Struggling

Lifeline: 13 11 14 | 13YARN (First Nations support): 13 92 76 |  Headspace: headspace.org.au

Media Enquiries

Tim Ashworth

[email protected]

0402 922 608

ENDS//