MALAKAI Champion almost walked away from the game at 15. Two weeks after making the six-and-a-half-hour drive to relocate from Kalgoorlie to Perth to join the WAFL futures program, his dad passed away.
Champion was heartbroken. He had moved to the city to pursue an opportunity at Subiaco with the aim of being drafted in 2024, and to be closer to his dad. All the small forward wanted to do was to pack up and move home.
But he didn't.
Champion dealt with the grief with his mum, who he openly calls his best friend, and got on with making the most of his chance to build towards an AFL career. That has always been the goal; one he shared with his dad.
The 18-year-old has had to deal with even more loss in recent years. His uncle, his grandfather and his great grandfather have all passed since he lost his dad, but it has only made Champion more resilient and determined to make it.
After an eye-catching few years in Perth, Champion is set to join the Eagles next week after West Coast officially nominated Champion as an Academy prospect in recent days. Not many have dealt with more to get here.
"I nearly gave up football because I lost my dad. When we moved to Perth in December, he passed away a couple of weeks later. About three days after Christmas, he passed away and we actually had plans for New Year's to stay at a hotel and spend time together," Champion told AFL.com.au at the Telstra AFL Draft Combine.
"I started the futures pre-season without my dad, 12 days after my dad died. I hadn't moved out of my bed much in that time; I was still struggling to cope with it, to be honest.
"I got going again, but it was hard. I was crying in the car one day and told mum I didn't want to do this, I wanted to give up. I wanted to go back to Kalgoorlie and live in Kalgoorlie and play footy there. Mum told me to give it a try and I haven't looked back since.
"I still think about dad every day and still hope for him to call me or message me or anything. Three years now, I still don't believe it. There is nothing I can do but try and make him proud because I know he is somewhere watching me. It hurts that I don't have him here to see it and that hurts me thinking about that.
"It definitely drives me a lot. I want to be successful for him and for me, my family at home and my little brothers. Dad wanted this for me, this is what he wanted, and I know he has my back helping me run faster and a shield out there on the footy field."
Losing a parent at such a young age wasn't the only challenge Champion dealt with when he arrived in Perth. He bounced around from house to house with his mum to start with. Money was tight and rentals were hard to find during the pandemic. But they made it work.
"Me and mum had a saying where 'We always find a way'," Champion said.
"We packed up our things with no real plan but the aim to make it (to the AFL). It was definitely a big move. I had a lot of family in Perth already, but we didn't have a house.
"We lived with mum's cousin for a bit and then mum's sister. I was in the futures program and the 16s program, bouncing from house to house and still going to school, which was pretty hard, but we made it work."
Champion's mum moved back to Kalgoorlie in 2023, but her son stayed committed to the course. After years of his grandson moving from house to house, Champion's grandfather used his superannuation money to buy the family a home of their own in Perth. That phenomenal sacrificial act drives Champion to make it to the top and remain there, just like his uncle Eddie Betts did for 17 seasons.
Betts provides advice from afar, especially this year. The former Carlton and Adelaide star is the player the teenager tries to emulate, as is Melbourne excitement machine Kysaiah Pickett.
"I definitely try and play like my uncle Eddie Betts," he said. "He is originally from Kal. His grandmother and my mum's grandfather are brother and sister, so they are closely related. Definitely him with the skills and goalkicking wise.
"I also look up to Kozzy Pickett with my pressure and my ability to get inside and get a couple of clearances. I look up to a lot of Indigenous players in the AFL."
Champion has built a compelling case across the past three years to earn a shot in the AFL. He earned All-Australian selection in 2022 after a brilliant carnival for Western Australia in the under-16s. Last year he was selected to play in the Marsh AFL National Futures match on Grand Final day and was subsequently picked for the national academy.
This year, the 172cm small forward got a taste of league football for the first time in the WAFL. He kicked three goals against West Coast in a dazzling debut in round 17, then slotted two against Swan Districts and two more against Perth across the next fortnight. He played a total of five senior games late in the year after representing Western Australia in the under-18 national championships.
After sitting down with AFL.com.au inside the MCG on the first day of the Draft Combine, Champion put the finishing touches on his draft year by recording the second best agility test (7.836 seconds) behind Gold Coast Academy product Leo Lombard, after running the fifth fastest 20m sprint (2.938) to highlight his athletic gifts.
Champion has spent the past few years in West Coast's NGA hoping to graduate to the AFL program full-time. That day is imminent. Premiership small forward Liam Ryan made him feel a part of the group from the outset, along with NGA graduate Tyrell Dewar and Tyler Brockman.
"The first day I walked in I just felt welcome straight away. The first thing I realised was they are just normal blokes. You obviously have the blokes who are really dialled in, the blokes that like to have fun and the blokes that like to make others happy. You definitely felt welcomed straight away," he said.
"I was there to do the pre-season and the running was the hardest running I'd ever done. I knew a couple of the Indigenous players in Tyrell, Tyler and Liam. They helped me straight away. I have loved my time at West Coast."
Champion played with Dewar back in Kalgoorlie, along with North Melbourne goalsneak Robert Hansen jnr. They then crossed paths again at Subiaco. Dewar and Hansen jnr have been in the system for the past two seasons and have provided a roadmap for Champion to get there.
"These are the guys I played junior footy with in Kal and league footy with in Kal and colts footy at Subi," he said. "To see both of them on AFL lists, as people I've known my whole life, people that like to have fun, to see them dialled in and engaged in AFL programs, shows you that there is no easy way, you need to be prepared. Doing a lot of running in the off-season with them has helped me out a lot."
Champion was 15 when he made the defining decision to move to Perth. Months later he was back to play senior football for Mines Rovers against men twice his age – and size – in the Goldfields Football League. He flew in and out of the capital on the weekends in 2022. That experience helped him handle the step up in the WAFL and will be a reference point for what's to come next.
"I was actually 14 when I got the call-up but I'm pretty sure it wasn't allowed to happen at that age," he said. "I played with my coach that had coached me in juniors and he messaged me on Instagram saying the coach wants your number. I was in Perth for my nana's funeral and he called me to come back and play that weekend. We had the funeral on Thursday, we drove back on Friday, and I played on the Saturday. Mum had to sign permission forms for me. It was pretty crazy; I was 55kg playing against grown men.
"It helped out a lot when I played for Subi because I'd sort of been there before. People ask me what the differences are and I don't really see them; it was more skilled or more intense but it felt like being 15 again at Kal playing against men."
Champion has overcome more trauma than most draft prospects to get to this point, but those challenges have only made him more determined to make a name for himself in the AFL once he gets there.
