IT’S the ultimate dream team, as players who shone in their own era are brought together to shine a light on the extraordinary contribution of the Noongar nation as a whole.

The Sunday Times today presents the Noongar Team of Champions, picked for the Noongar Footy Magic documentary series to be previewed at Subiaco Oval this afternoon.

While the careers of some of these 24 stars are separated by as many as six decades, there are also strong blood ties which link the greatest Noongar footballers of our time.

Remarkably, one-third of the team has a brother who has been selected alongside him. The Team of Champions contains four sets of siblings — Jimmy and Phil Krakouer, Keith and Phil Narkle, Peter and Phil Matera and Stephen and Bradley Hill, along with many others whose lineage weaves through other members of the team.

Documentary producer Harry Bardwell said seven players in the side could trace their ancestry back to a single set of ancestors.

The team, which includes 18 players named in position and a six-man bench, was chosen by a panel of selectors for the documentary series, which celebrates the over-representation of Noongar footballers at the top level and their individual stories.

They will be presented with special guernseys at today’s event.

Camera Icon Brothers in arms: Bradley Hill, Michael Johnson and Stephen Hill pose this week. Credit: Justin Benson-Cooper

Led by legendary duo Graham “Polly” Farmer as captain and Barry Cable as playing coach, the centre-square set-up is completed by South Fremantle great Stephen Michael as ruck-rover and St Kilda icon Nicky Winmar as the centreman.

The team contains five current AFL players. Michael Johnson and the Hill brothers fly the flag for Fremantle, while Sydney star Lance Franklin and Port Adelaide’s Paddy Ryder hold key forward posts. Docker Michael Walters was an unlucky omission.

Johnson paid tribute to the retired greats in the Team of Champions, saying their careers — sometimes marred by on-field racism — had helped break down barriers and made it easier for players of his generation.

Winmar’s famous gesture of pointing to his skin after being vilified by the crowd during a match in 1993 is regarded as one of the most significant images in Australia’s cultural history.

“The concept itself is a great thing for our people and you look at the team, it’s the players that led the way back in the day and a lot of us kids these days have found it easy to play the game,” Johnson said.

“To see these players go through tough times only going back 20 years ago, and to be named next to them, it’s a great honour. To be named next to the the legends of the game that we play in Australia, it’s very humbling and very surprising.”

All 24 members of the Team of Champions are living, with Farmer the oldest at 82 and Bradley Hill the youngest at 24.

Like Johnson, the Hill brothers weren’t sure if they were worthy of being included but were honoured to have been selected. The Fremantle pair grew up idolising West Coast champion Peter Matera and were thrilled they were part of the same side as him.

The trio of Fremantle players have only one regret about the Team of Champions; that they will never get to play in an actual game together.

“It would be good if we were all the same age and could all play in the one side,” Bradley Hill said.

“I reckon if we were one team, we would be pretty exciting.”

The Noongar region covers the south-west corner of WA, extending from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast.

Dual West Coast premiership star Chris Lewis, part of the Indigenous Team of the Century, is a Yamatji man whose family is from the Mid West region so he was not eligible for selection.

The selection panel comprised Cable, Kevin Sheedy, John Todd, Mal Brown, Larry Kickett and Grant Dorrington. Only those who played in the 1960s onwards were eligible for the team, so that video was available.

THE TEAM

B: Dale Kickett, Gary Malarkey, Derek Kickett

HB: Byron Pickett, Michael Johnson, Stephen Hill

C: Phil Narkle, Nicky Winmar, Peter Matera

HF: Leon Davis, Lance Franklin, Bradley Hill

F: Jeff Farmer, Patrick Ryder, Jimmy Krakouer

R: Polly Farmer, Stephen Michael, Barry Cable (coach)

I/C: Chance Bateman, Allistair Pickett, Phil Matera, Keith Narkle, Phil Krakouer, Kevin Taylor