Malcolm Robert 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.
Early life
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. 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.
AFL career
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.
In 1999, Michael was notable as being the full-back playing on Sydney Swans champion full-forward Tony Lockett, in the match when Lockett kicked his 1300th career goal to become the highest goalkicker in the league's history. Michael managed 61 games with the Magpies, injuries grounding his rise in each of his five seasons 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.
Brisbane Lions
Michael debuted for the Brisbane Lions in 2001. At the Lions he bulked up substantially and became one of the AFL's strongest players, and was a fullback. Michael fitted in well with the other Lions hard men, such as Chris Scott and Chris Johnson under the guidance of 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 and 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 possible 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.
In 2005, Michael was involved in a much publicised incident with Nick Riewoldt when he and Chris Scott both "tested" the St Kilda player's broken collarbone. The incident caused significant controversy. A fortnight later, he played his 100th club game for the Brisbane Lions, but the Lions suffered an embarrassing six-point loss to eventual premiers after they had led by 32 points at the final change.
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 10 metres out was quite remarkable. This attracted wide scrutiny in the media and was oft-replayed.
Michael played his 200th AFL game in the penultimate round of the 2006 AFL season against Sydney, lining up on Barry Hall, who was also playing his 200th AFL game. Brisbane lost the match by 57 points.