ABC Riverina | Jack Harper spins the ball in his left hand, looks up and takes a deliberate step to the right.

A couple of small quick steps turn into a canter, before he springs into a mid-air splits, a football exploding off his foot.

His head snaps back and his eyes lock on to the red missile arcing towards its goal, and like a back-garden footballer waiting those agonising seconds to see if they've put the ball over next door's fence, Jack waits to see if the ball disappears over the concrete tower.

Unlike a backyard slogger, Jack is trying to clear the fence.

He's the current Mirrool Silo Kick Champion, the annual event that has put a small village in the New South Wales Riverina on the map.

Competitors line up to see who can kick an Aussie Rules ball over Mirrool's 34-metre-high, 12-metre-wide grain silos.

And some in Mirrool believe it's helping to keep their small town alive.

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