The Sydney Swans and Carlton will battle for the annual Mark Grook Trophy at the SCG on Friday night.

The match honours the Indigenous roots of Australian football and recognises the valuable contribution of Indigenous players to the game.

Sydney and Essendon originally contested for the Trophy and the honour is awarded to the winner of the Swans’ Sir Doug Nicholls Round match every season.

Sydney has won the Trophy on 11 occasions since its inception in 2002 and last took it out in a match with North Melbourne in Marn Grook at the SCG in 2016.

Marn Grook is the name given to a traditional game played during a corroboree of the Djawurrung and Jardwadjali clans in Victoria’s Western District.

It is believed this game was one of the inspirations behind Australian football as it’s known today.

The traditional game was played with a ball made from possum skin, about the size of an orange, filled with pounded charcoal and/or grass.

It was bound into a hard ball with kangaroo sinews and kicked and tossed by two opposing teams of up to 50 players each.

The meaning of Marn Grook translates to 'game ball' and it is believed the founder of Australian football, Tom Wills, observed a game of Marn Grook in the 1840s and thought it would be a good way for Australian cricketers to keep fit during winter.

Swans great Adam Goodes wrote of the special connection between Marn Grook and Australian football in Geoff Slattery's The Australian Game of Football.

“I believe Marn Grook played a role in the development of Australian Football,” Goodes wrote.

“I do know we were playing a similar game for the joy and excitement of it, before the said founders of the game, Tom Wills and James Thompson and William Hammersley and Thomas Smith came along.

“I don’t know the truth, but I believe in the connection. Because I know that when Aboriginal people play Australian Football with a clear mind and total focus, we are born to play it.”

Goodes and Swans champion Michael O'Loughlin will be honoured at Marn Grook at the SCG on Friday.

The player judged best afield will be awarded with the Goodes-O'Loughlin Medal, which features the blue and red colours of the Swans’ originally designed Indigenous guernsey, designed by Goodes' mum Lisa Sansbury.

Marn Grook at the SCG will kick off the AFL’s Sir Doug Nicholls Round.