Mal Michael

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Mal Michael
Michael in Essendon colours
Michael in Essendon colours
Personal information
Full name Malcolm Roberto Michael
Date of Birth June 24, 1977 (1977-06-24) (age 30)
Place of Birth Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Recruited from Morningside
Draft 1996 Rookie Draft
Collingwood
2nd overall, 2006 PSD
Essendon
Height/Weight 190 cm / 100kg
Position Full-back
Club information
Current club Essendon
Number 22
Playing Career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1997-2000
2001-2006
2007-
Totals		 Collingwood
Brisbane Lions
Essendon		 61 (23)
140 (5)
27 (2)
224 (30)
¹ Club statistics to end of Round 1, 2008 season
² Representative statistics to end of {{{repstatsend}}}

Malcolm Roberto "Mal" Michael (born June 24, 1977 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea) is an Australian rules footballer who usually plays at full-back and currently plays for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League. He is best known as a triple premiership full-back player with the Brisbane Lions.

Contents

[edit] Pre-AFL

Michael was born in Papua New Guinea. His mother Alice is from Delena, Central Province a village near Port Moresby.[1] and his father Peter is a Melbourne-born civil engineer and former Ormond Amateurs (VAFA) player.[2] He was instrumental in developing AFL in PNGand founded the Bomana demons FC near Sogeri in Port Moresby. Michael moved to Brisbane with his parents at the age of 3 and later played junior football in Brisbane with the Kenmore Bears.

As a teenager, Michael was recruited by Queensland Australian Football League club Morningside. While at that club he was invited to train with the Brisbane Bears Australian Football League (AFL) club, with a view to potentially drafting him—an exciting prospect for him as he was a Bears supporter at the time. However, the Bears did not draft him, with Melbourne-based rival club Collingwood drafting him to their rookie list in 1996.

[edit] Collingwood Football Club

Michael debuted in 1997 as the first player in the AFL to be elevated to the seniors from the rookie list. He finished eighth in the club champion voting and earned a Norwich Rising Star Award nomination, but over ensuing seasons he was tried at both fullback and full-forward and struggled for consistency.

In 1999, he had the unfortunate honour of being the full-back playing on Sydney Swans champion full-forward Tony Lockett in the match that Lockett broke the record to become the greatest goalkicker in the game's history. Michael managed 61 games with the magpies, injuries grounding his rise in each of his five season at Victoria Park. Unfortunately, the Collingwood faithful never saw the best of him.

At the end of 2000 he was traded to the Brisbane Lions along with a draft pick for Jarrod Molloy.

[edit] Brisbane Lions Football Club

Michael was traded to the Brisbane Lions, debuting for them in 2001. While there, he bulked up and became one of the AFL's strongest players, and was a fearsome fullback. Michael fitted in well with the other Lions hard men, such as Chris Scott and Chris Johnson under the guidance of fearsome coach Leigh Matthews.

He played fullback in each of the Lions' three successive premierships in 2001, 2002 and 2003, achieving his first premiership in his first year with the club.

Surprisingly during these years, despite being unanimously regarded as the most consistent fullback in the competition, he was unlucky to miss All-Australian selection. It is widely believed that this is due to the majority of his work being one percenters not generally credited by umpires or the stat sheets as much as actual possessions. Michael played 140 out of a posiible 145 games for the Lions during his six years with the club, as well as all pre-season competition games and two International rules series games against Ireland in 2004.

[edit] 2006 season

In the Round 14, 2006 game against Melbourne, Michael conceded a rushed behind in an unorthodox and notable fashion. He is not the first player to deliberately rush a behind with a kick between the goal posts, however his emphatic kick from over 20 metres out was quite remarkable. This attracted wide scrutiny in the media and was oft-replayed.

The next week, a leak in the media speculated that Michael was "burnt out" and disillusioned at the club, and was considering retirement. However, coach Leigh Matthews later spoke out saying he had convinced Michael to stay on until the end of the season.

Michael did stay on until the end of the season, but announced his retirement on October 5 at only 29 years of age. Earlier in the year, he had cited the reason he was considering walking away from the game was to help out the Papua New Guinean community. [3]

Michael announced his retirement shortly after the end of the 2006 season after failing to negotiate a reduced training schedule so he could pursue his personal interests.[4]

[edit] Essendon career

However, on 24th November, 2006, Essendon Football Club indicated that Michael had reconsidered his decision to retire, and that they have come to an agreement whereby he will be selected by them in the pre-season draft for the 2007 season.[5] He currently wears the number 22 guernsey which was vacated by Tristan Cartledge, who was delisted by the Bombers at the end of season 2006. This was seen as a betrayal by Brisbane players who weren't given any sort of compensation for the loss of Michael. In the 2007 and 2008 seasons, he has since featured in the backline alongside veteran Dustin Fletcher and emerging youngster Paddy Ryder.

[edit] Papua New Guinean celebrity

Michael was the first Papua New Guinean to play senior AFL football, acting as an ambassador for the game when he visits his homeland. He is possibly the only AFL player who is more famous in a country other than Australia. He has appeared on a series of biscuit commercials in PNG as "the secret of Mal's success". In 2004, he hosted a popular football segment on a weekly PNG television show. [6]

In early 2006, he established the Mal Michael Foundation, aimed at raising money to help give young Papua New Guineans the opportunity to play Aussie rules.

In 2007 Michael made a strategic deal with mining company Hannans Reward (ASX:HNR) aimed at appealing the company to the Papua New Guinea market.[7] Michael's consultancy company M&M Synergy Ltd, deals in the natural resource sector in Papua New Guinea. They represent land owner incorporated companies to help them develop their assets. M&M Synergy Ltd spealise in joint vent projects and capital raising for timber, mining and petrolium projects.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ AFL stars shine from postcourier.com.pg
  2. ^ Player Profile:Mal Michael from afl-png.com
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=302006
  5. ^ News | Mal Michael to join Bombers | Essendon Football Club Official Website
  6. ^ AFL PNG :: pure AFL . . . purely Papua New Guinea
  7. ^ Hannans enlists Michael to help tackle PNG

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Brisbane Lions squad – 2001 AFL Premiers (1st premiership)
v • d • e
Brisbane Lions squad – 2002 AFL Premiers (2nd premiership)
v • d • e
Brisbane Lions squad – 2003 AFL Premiers (3rd premiership)
v • d • e
Essendon Football Club – current squad

1 Neagle • 2 Dyson • 3 Gumbleton • 4 Watson • 5 Stanton • 6 Monfries • 7 Jetta • 8 Winderlich • 9 Ramanauskas • 10 McVeigh • 11 Peverill • 12 Welsh • 13 Lovett • 14 J. Johnson • 15 Dempsey • 16 Pears • 17 Nash • 18 Lloyd • 19 Hille • 20 Slattery • 21 Johns • 22 Michael • 23 Myers • 24 Williams • 25 Lucas • 26 Hooker • 27 Laycock • 28 Daniher • 29 Davey • 30 Ryder • 31 Fletcher • 32 Lee • 33 McPhee • 34 Magin* • 35 Hislop • 36 Lonergan • 37 Reimers • 38 Atkinson • 39 Hocking • 40 Dick* • 41 Chartres* • 42 Lovett-Murray • 43 Houli • 44 Bellchambers • Coach: Knights

* denotes Rookie Listed players