'Authentic diversity': The business a Brumbies star hopes can change Indigenous lives

"This right here? It's a redevelopment of the nature reserve," Muirhead said.

Muirhead's latest venture goes beyond the sideline on a rugby field. His role in newly-launched construction company Yara is about more than block plays, cut out balls and chop tackles.

What Muirhead wants now is to "get Indigenous people within the civil space and upskill them so they're not just labourers, and they can look into things like getting a certificate in civil construction and potentially civil engineering".

Yes, Muirhead will ditch the hard hat and pull on the Brumbies' Indigenous jersey for a Super Rugby Pacific clash with the NSW Waratahs at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday.

But in the back of his mind on the trip to Sydney were his hopes of landing defence and federal projects to provide Indigenous Australians with their own pathway.

Yara's mission is to provide authentic diversity in the national construction and civil sector by specialising in civil, building, engineering, asset management and remediation projects.

The company - which includes former Brumby Lachlan McCaffrey - prioritises empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals through tailored training, employment opportunities and plans for career progression.

"From doing the pathways at Brumbies and seeing how well that works, I definitely saw an opportunity in being able to upskill and develop Indigenous people in the Canberra community who want to do better in their work life," Muirhead said.

"We're pretty much trying to replicate what we've done with the Brumbies and provide opportunities for people to gain meaningful work and career progression."

Muirhead has already played a crucial role in the Brumbies' First Nations pathway program, launched for Indigenous talent who may once have feared they would slip through the cracks in the rugby union pathway.

"It helps with my transition out of footy. I'm getting to the end of my career. Something I wanted to do was get into the construction space and own a business," Muirhead said.

"There's a lot of work within the civil space, especially the federal and defence space. We're starting here in Canberra but we're looking to do jobs nationally. Being able to expand out of Canberra and up north would be great.

"Hopefully we can build up a solid workforce, hopefully with a majority of Indigenous people, to do these works around Australia. That's the plan and goal moving forward.

"We've made some really good connections so far. One of the elders, Richie Allan, I've linked up with him through Brumbies and I have leant on him a lot through this process. He's been really good in that space.

"We're making connections with [the University of Canberra] and trying to tailor into their cohort of Indigenous students, to be able to offer them traineeships and give them work experience through the work we're doing.

"Everyone is pretty happy we're doing something in this space, there are not many indigenous companies in Canberra or Australia that are really trying to put some weight behind the employment and training aspect of things.

"The main focus point for us is that training and employment stuff that is hopefully going to give guys an opportunity to better their careers."

On the park, Muirhead and the Brumbies have a chance to drive a stake into the Waratahs' season and move closer to their own hopes of a top-two finish with Super Rugby's two leading teams - the Hurricanes and the Blues - to meet at Eden Park on Saturday afternoon.

Muirhead is confident the Brumbies can finally end years of finals heartbreak this season, but the first task in their way is a wounded Waratahs outfit which has been rocked by revelations flyhalf Will Harrison is bound for Japan and captain Jake Gordon has been courted by French club Perpignan.

Both sides will wear Indigenous-themed jerseys. The Brumbies' version was designed by Wiradjuri man Jayden McLachlan, and features a wedge-tailed eagle, which is a totem representing the Ngunnawal people.

The Brumbies will wear the jersey again when they host the Melbourne Rebels at Canberra Stadium on May 24.

And for once, Muirhead is not the only Indigenous player wearing it with Harrison Goddard joining the club from the Waratahs this year.

"We were having a laugh this week, we're glad there's both of us in there now. I was, for a couple of years, by myself [as the only Indigenous player]," Muirhead said.

"I've made it quite known I wish there was more and I'm hoping there's going to be more Indigenous people playing rugby, but it's good to have him there that I can lean on and talk about culture with.

"He's pretty keen to get involved in our pathways program to see what he can do and how he can help in that space to get some other kids through our doors to hopefully earn contracts at some point."