Michael "Magic" McLean (born 3 March 1965) is a former professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played for the

Footscray Football Club The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Bears were a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, now known as the Brisbane Lions. Granted a Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL), licence in 1986, ...

and

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL).

Early life

McLean was born and raised in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and played both

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

and Australian football at junior levels. His father, from

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

pushed for Michael at fifteen years of age to pursue a career in rugby league, however, he decided to continue playing Australian football. McLean played his first senior league with the Nightcliff rugby league club but also played Australian football for the Nightcliff Football Club in the

Northern Territory Football League The Northern Territory Football League (NTFL) is an Australian rules football competition, operating in Greater Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and the Northern Territory, formerly run by the Northern Territory Football League Incorporated a ...

where he was eventually scouted by the

to play professionally.

VFL/AFL career

Footscray career

McLean moved to Victoria and debuted for Footscray in 1983. He became known as a skilful winger who went on to play 95 games and boot 23 goals with the Bulldogs before he suffered an ankle and calf

injuries Injury is physiological damage to the living tissue of any organism, whether in humans, in other animals, or in plants. Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanically with penetration by sharp objects such as teeth or with b ...

that hampered his career. In response to his injuries, McLean focused on building his lean body to become one of the strongest bodies in the competition.

Brisbane career

The Bulldogs gave McLean the boot, before he was picked up in the 1991 pre-season draft as the first overall pick for the

. He resurrected his career, winning the 1991 and 1993

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award at the Bears. He went on to play 87 games and kick 17 goals with the Bears, before playing the first game in 1997 with the newly merged

before constant calf injury struck him down, forcing his retirement.

Coaching career

McLean returned to Darwin to coach his former club Nightcliff, he did so for five years with limited success before resigning at the end of 2004 to coach the

Redland Football Club Redland-Victoria Point Football Club (nicknamed The Sharks) is a Brisbane based sports club. The Australian rules football team competes in the Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL) since 2021. They have previously been a part of both the ...

in the Queensland State League. At the end of the 2005, as Redland seemed destined for the wooden spoon, he resigned and returned to Darwin to again coach Nightcliff. In the 2005–06 season, McLean gave the Tigers an impressive season and reached the preliminary final before bowing out to eventual premiers, the Darwin Football Club. In the 2006–07 season, McLean became coach for the Southern Districts Football Club and won the premiership in his first year as coach with the club. In 2009, he became the head coach of the Northern Territory Football Club and coached their inaugural season in the

Queensland Australian Football League The Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL or "Q-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football competition organised by the AFL Queensland, contested by clubs from South East Queensland. Founded in 1903 it was previously known as the Queens ...

(QAFL). In May 2016, he was announced as the new senior coach of the Waratah Football Club heading into the 2016–17 NTFL season.

Aboriginal activist

During his career he was a strong anti-racism advocate, and this continued post his career. He was a vital part of the Aboriginal All-Stars match up in Darwin, and was also named in the

Indigenous Team of the Century The Indigenous Team of the Century was selected in 2005 to recognise the role of Indigenous Australians in Australian rules football. Graham Farmer was named as the team's captain, while Barry Cable was selected as the team's coach. Eight of t ...

. In 2007, McLean was working at Palmerston YMCA in Darwin as a community worker.AFL Record, Round 9, 2007.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McLean, Michael Western Bulldogs players Brisbane Bears players 1965 births Living people Brisbane Lions players Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Brisbane Bears Club Champion winners All-Australians (1953–1988) Nightcliff Football Club players Allies State of Origin players Australian rules footballers from Darwin, Northern Territory