Watson is head of the Cultural Choice Association, the charity which ran the Boots for Brighter Future initiative which allowed Indigenous kids the chance to paint the boots NRL players would wear during the Indigenous round.

Senior constable Kellie Shields from the Aboriginal Youth Team said the Dubbo PCYC was approached by Watson during a visit to his hometown.

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"We were approached by Connor Watson himself and his mother Jodie, obviously they're Dubbo locals and they just got in touch with us, they'd heard what we have been doing at PCYC on Friday nights," she said.

"It just so happened they were coming into town and they called into the PCYC and checked out what we were doing and they loved it so then they asked us if we wanted to paint some boots for them."

Over 10 pairs of boots were painted in Dubbo, and Officer Shields said some big named players had their boots painted in town.

"We had I think about 12 all up plus we had some local artists come in so I think we ended up painting about 20 boots [worn] over the weekend," she said.

"A few good names like Cameron Munster and (Jack) Hethrington so we got a nice selection of the boots."

Officer Shields felt one of the best parts about painting the boots was watching the children's reactions.

"They loved it, they were watching the footy on Friday night and just for them to get a reaction to see their boots on the field was amazing so and to see the collaboration between the older Indigenous guys and the younger Indigenous kids it was great," she said.

For the children, it was a chance to connect to those around them and their culture.

"Through planning their boots, through painting their boots they were able to come up with learning about the Aboriginal culture and all the art symbols to telling their own stories so it was good to see them learning about themselves as well," Officer Shields said.

"In negotiations with Boots for Brighter Futures they try and also support where we are coming from too and of course we do all our work with young Indigenous kids so anything to prevent suicide in the that population of young Indigenous especially males it's totally worth it."

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