Mal Michael
| Mal Michael | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Michael in Essendon colours
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| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Malcolm Robert Michael | ||
| Date of birth | 24 June 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea | ||
| Original team(s) | Kenmore Bears Jnr AFL Club (BJAFL) / Morningside (QAFL) | ||
| Draft |
1996 Rookie Draft, Collingwood #2, 2006 Pre-season Draft, Essendon |
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| Height | 190 cm (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Weight | 100 kg (220 lb) | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1997 – 2000 | Collingwood | 61 (23) | |
| 2001 – 2006 | Brisbane Lions | 140 (5) | |
| 2007 – 2008 | Essendon | 37 (5) | |
| Total | 238 (33) | ||
| International team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| 2004 | Australia | 2 | |
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1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2008.
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| Career highlights | |||
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| Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com | |||
Malcolm Robert "Mal" Michael (born 24 June 1977) is a Papua New Guinean born former Australian rules footballer. He is notable for his successful professional career in the Australian Football League. In a career spanning 238 games and three clubs in two Australian states he is best known as a triple premiership full-back with the Brisbane Lions. Michael is recognised as being one of the best Queensland produced Australian rules footballers of all time, being named on the AFL Queensland Team of the 20th Century.
He is possibly the only Australian rules footballer who is better known in a country other than Australia, maintaining a high profile in Papua New Guinea, and he is credited by many to have inspired the boom in playing numbers of Australian rules football in Papua New Guinea. In April 2009, The Guardian described him as one of Papua New Guinea's "living national icons", along with politician Michael Somare and philosopher Bernard Narokobi.
Michael was born in Papua New Guinea. His mother Alice is from Delena, Central Province a village near Port Moresby. and his father Peter is a Melbourne-born civil engineer and former Ormond Amateurs (VAFA) player. Peter was instrumental in developing AFL in PNG and 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. He attended Kenmore South State School before finishing off his schooling at St Peters Lutheran College, Brisbane, Australia.
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.
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