Despite being sidelined for the season, star forward Mark LeCras is still making sure he kicks goals off the field.

The Frenchman recently headed north to Hedland Senior High School as part of the club’s Kicking Goals program, where he went through training drills, gave footy tips and advice, and chatted to the students about healthy eating, lifestyle and exercise.

“It’s great to come up here and spend some time with these kids,” LeCras said.

The West Coast Eagles’ Kicking Goals Program, run in conjunction with Swan Districts Football Club and BHP Billiton, is one of Australia’s largest regional-based sports mentoring programs. It combines sports based initiatives to help high school students in Port Hedland and the Newman achieve better educational and employment outcomes.

Kicking Goals is a curriculum-based program that utilises a reward and incentive system, where students are required to maintain certain key performance indicators to stay in the program and be eligible for various incentives, including visits by West Coast players such as Naitanui.

Thanks to principal community partner BHP Billiton, West Coast Eagles players and staff are able to make 10 visits to the Pilbara every year for the program.