Resilient, thankful Champion chasing his dreamsFriday, August 9, 2024 - 11:15 AM - by Chris Pike

MALAKAI Champion has a mature head on a lightning quick 18-year-old body but with everything he has been through already, the Subiaco excitement machine has that resilience to deal with anything.

As a promising young player in Kalgoorlie who made his senior football debut at Miners Rovers at 15, Champion moved to Perth with his mother initially.

However, not long after that move in December 2021, his father passed away and then since has also lost two of his uncles and a grandfather but feels fortunate for the help he's received.

That has included his grandfather using his life savings to set him up with a house in Perth so he can continue to chase his football dreams and with an uncle like Eddie Betts and mentors like Brad Dick and Gerald Ugle, he couldn’t be more thankful.

Champion now has been an All-Australian after the State 16s championships, played a big part in the State 18s this year, has been part of the West Coast Eagles NGA Academy, and has played his first two league games in the WAFL with Subiaco.

First two games at league level

Speaking of those first two games, Champion made his WAFL league debut against West Coast and played in a win while kicking three goals and then he kicked another two goals against Swan Districts last week.

"The step up is obviously pretty huge and to come up against the bigger and more experienced bodies, it kinda feels like I'm a 15-year-old again back in Kalgoorlie playing league," Champion said.

"But it feels good just getting used to how fast the game is and how strong the men are that are out there.

"I just have to stick to my strengths which is speed and to keep low, and outrun the older bodies, but I'm just thankful to Beau Wardman for giving me the opportunity and showing faith in me. He has just told me to play to my strengths and that is to back my speed 100 per cent of the time."

Looking like you belong out there

Despite being small and lightly framed, Champion has looked right at home out there at WAFL level where he has learned to use his speed and craftiness to his advantage.

"I'm definitely happy with the way I've started," he said.

"In the pre-season I did play a bit of league footy with the boys and obviously I really wanted to play from the start of the year, but I started out with the colts and then we had the two months with the state program.

"Then after that, I was just waiting for my moment and once I got that then I knew that I could put show everyone that I was capable of playing against the men."

First taste of senior football in Kalgoorlie

Champion has no doubt that the fact that he started playing senior football and learning how to play up against men much bigger, stronger and more experienced than him in Kalgoorlie has helped him as well.

Not to mention some of those who were able to mentor him while he was in Kalgoorlie.

"It's definitely helped a lot just with my awareness to not try and get around the bigger boys as much often as I do in the colts," Champion said.

"I know they are smarter and stronger and more experienced footballers, so I don’t want them tackling me and it's my awareness to either give the first option or move out of the way in the contest that has been helped by playing against men before.

"Playing in Kalgoorlie 100 per cent helped me out a lot and I had a lot of mentors like Gerald Ugle and Brad Dick at Miners Rovers, and some of other guys who had played WAFL so I definitely have to thank them a lot. I always talked a lot to Rhys Palmer who was playing at the Kangas."

Initial move to Perth with family

Having grown up in Kalgoorlie and starting to play senior football there, Champion and his family decided that the best chance for him to chase his football dreams was to make the move to Perth.

"So I moved to Perth in December 2021 and we didn’t really have a plan for my football, it was just to rock up to a Subiaco futures pre-season and see how it went," Champion said.

"I came down with mum and her partner, and we moved into her cousin's house and it was a hard time because COVID was still a bit around and houses were hard to find or afford. So we just stayed at my mum's cousins house and then my old man passed away not long after we moved down.

"So I had just moved here to play footy and be with my dad, but then to lose him when I was only 15 and had to bury my dad. What that showed me is that life is more than just football, but the main reason I moved here was the football so I wanted to make the best of it I could."

Learning to deal with heartache

Having lost his father just after moving to Perth, things didn’t get easier on the family front for Champion but his State 16s experience to earn an All-Australian jumper showed him what was possible.

"I started playing futures that first year and made the State 16s side and was lucky enough to be in the All-Australian team," he said.

"But also during that time, my mum lost her grandfather so I had to go to a funeral on the Friday, drive back to Perth that night and then fly to Adelaide on Saturday and play State 16s on Sunday.

"It was pretty hectic but I felt like all of that stuff that happened then has set me up to be really resilient. It's taught me that these things are possible, you just have to stay close to your family and be a good person to everyone and then realistically anything is possible."

Breakout 2022 season

After that State 16s campaign, Champion played a bit of football in Subiaco's colts but then also would fly in and out of Kalgoorlie for the rest of the season, which was another unique experience for someone still so young.

"Then later in 2022 I played three Subi colts games and debuted as a double underager with them and decided to go back to Kalgoorlie to finish off that year playing league footy there," Champion said.

"I was a FIFO player so I was living in Perth and going to school during the week, and then flying out to Kalgoorlie every Friday night to play league footy as a 16-year-old. Then that season finished off pretty good and I was pretty happy with my year with the State 16s and the colts football at Subi."

More family pain was to come

The family losses weren’t done with yet for Champion unfortunately in 2023, but now looking back with hindsight, he feels it has made him a stronger person while obviously missing each person he has lost dearly.

"Then in November that year just as our pre-season was about to start, my dad's younger brother actually passed away from a fever or something that we still don't quite know," he said.

"So going into a pre-season as a 16-year-old for my first full year of colts, I also wasn’t at my fittest because I was still trying to process losing my dad and my pop, and now my dad's brother.

"Then at my uncle's funeral, my dad's dad passed away just after that from cancer which we kinda knew wasn’t too far from happening.

"That didn’t make it any easier, though, so to lose my pop and dad and his brother so quickly was tough, and it was a lot to try and deal with and as a 16-year-old I had to just work out how to handle losing all those people."

More life changing experiences in 2023

Champion's mum ended up moving back to Kalgoorlie in 2023 and given he is happy to admit to her being his best friend, that was another tough hurdle to have to deal, but he found some strong mentors in Perth while living with the aunty.

Champion was also able to do well in the State 18s team and also have some impressive performances at colts level with Subiaco.

"I was then living with my aunty at that time and my mum as traveling up and back from Kalgoorlie as much as she could so I was 16 years old, living at my aunties and my mum who is my best friend wasn’t able to be here with me every day either," Champion said.

"It was really hard but I was really lucky to have support from guys like Robbie Hansen and Tyrell Dewar who I could look up to, and spent a lot of time with them.

"Then to start off that 2023 season in the colts, everything was starting to settle down and I was playing at Subi, then made the State 18s as a try on and we put in a good year of colts footy.

"We made the semi finals against East Perth and I felt like that year was a big eye-opening one to football for me which is what I needed to see what I had to do to take it serious.

"I also got invited to play in the Futures game at the MCG before the AFL Grand Final so to be there and then watch that legendary game where Collingwood just pulled away, it was so surreal."

Preparations for 2024 season

It was a hectic time over summer for Champion with being part of a summer training squad with the State 18s, spending time in the NGA Academy with the Eagles, and also training with Subiaco's league team when he was able to.

"Then coming into this year, I joined the summer squad for the State 18s and I got really close with all them boys that were part of that, and I also got the call that I was in the AFL Academy," he added.

"I could not believe that and I would look up to the boys that had been there before and seeing where they are now, and it was the most honourable thing to be able to wear.

"To be able to wear that myself, it was just unbelievable. I got to spend a full week as an AFL player at West Coast and I absolutely took it all in and wrote down about 15 pages of notes and coaching lessons or all the drills we did.

"I took it all in the best I could. And as part of the Eagles Academy, I got to train every Wednesday from December to just before the end of February."

More experience to accelerate development

Champion also thrived on the chance to spend time in the AFL Academy and to get to play against the Footscray VFL team which had some familiar faces in it for him and in the end he was part of another State 18s campaign with WA as well and had his moments of shining.

"Then I headed into the Subi seniors to train for a bit and after all that West Coast stuff finished up, and I didn’t really have the best start to the year with the colts," Champion said.

"I had a concussion and I reckon I just needed a bit of a break after a hectic summer and I was trying to learn how to balance everything. I then got to play in the AFL Academy again against the Western Bulldogs boys and to play against such a good VFL team was another incredible experience.

"Then in the State Academy was where I started to play my best footy again because I just focus on that and learned a lot there, and did my best to put it all together in the games.

"We had the championships and I didn’t really play my best, but I did some good things I think and I felt like my pressure and my intent to tackle was really good. I was happy to kick some goals too."

Settling back at Subiaco

Champion is now glad that he has been able to settle back in at Subiaco for the rest of the WAFL season after such a hectic schedule.

"After that, I came back to Subi colts and I played two games there and then got the call up to league which was surreal too," Champion said.

"It was very emotional for me because all these highs mean so much, but I do think my old man and all my other family members I've lost were here with me as I go through it all. But I was blessed to have my mum and her family, and some of my dad's family to come down for my league debut.

"To get the win against West Coast, I got a bit of bragging rights rocking up next with the Eagles boys and it was good."

Wanting to reward those who helped him

Above everything else, Champion still can't comprehend what an incredible sacrifice his grandfather has made to buy him a house to live in so he can continue to chase his dream.

That's why he'll never leave any stone unturned to reach the highest level possible.

"I was going from house to house as a 15, 16 and 17-year-old, but now have our own house. My pop bought us a house down in Perth with all his superannuation money that he worked his whole life for," Champion said.

"My family's support is so massive. They have all sacrificed so much for me and my pop legit bought this house just for me to pursue my dream in football.

"That's all of his hard work for 45 years that he put in, he has used it for his grandson to play football and that's why I try my hardest every day I go out on the football field because of the family support I have, along with everyone at Subiaco with Beau Wardman showing faith in me, and I just love the sport.

"I'm so thankful for everyone has helped me and now I just want to reward them by doing the best I can."

Dream of being drafted to AFL

While Champion knows how emotional of an experience it would be if his name gets called out on AFL Draft night later this year, he'll be just happy for everyone who has helped him and for the example it will set for others.

"Just thinking about it now makes me emotional and obviously being a kid growing up and watching my dad play footy and all my uncles play footy, and having Eddie Betts as my uncle and watching him play every week in the AFL, these guys are my heroes," Champion said.

"I would never want them to say I'm better than them just because I get drafted, but to have all the support I do gives me so much more belief in myself.

"To think I could be the first in my family besides Eddie to make it to the AFL and to show what is possible for my younger brother, my cousins and all the young Aboriginal boys, it would be amazing for them to see that anything is possible."