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AAP
AAP
Sport
Melissa Woods

Evolving AFL looks to embrace larger cultural mix

Essendon defender Jayden Nguyen hopes to encourage more Asian youngsters to play Australian rules. (Jay Kogler/AAP PHOTOS)

Jayden Nguyen's father wasn't thrilled about his son's decision to play AFL, but the Essendon youngster won him over, just as the league is attempting to do with more Asian communities.

The first and only player of Vietnamese heritage in the AFL, the 19-year-old is one of four new cultural diversity ambassadors, alongside Collingwood's Isaac Quaynor (Ghana), Western Bulldogs AFLW player Mua Laloifi (Pacific islands) and former AFLW star Akec Makur Chuot (South Sudan).

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