Finnbar Maley (born 18 July 2003) is an

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 plays with

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

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 ...

Early life

Maley spent much of his early years participating mostly in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

with the Eltham Wildcats, but also in

with the

Eltham Football Club Eltham Football Club is an Australian rules football club in Eltham, Victoria, currently competing in the Northern Football League (Australia), Northern Football League. History The Eltham Football Club began playing social matches at nearby Kan ...

in the

Northern Football Netball League The Northern Football Netball League (NFNL), formerly known as the Diamond Valley Football League (DVFL) and later the Northern Football League (NFL), is an Australian rules football and netball competition based in the Diamond Creek, Victori ...

. He attended

Eltham High School Eltham High School is a secondary school in Victoria, Australia. It is located in Eltham, Victoria, Eltham, a suburb which is north-east from Melbourne. The school has 'free dress' policy and is the only non-uniform secondary school in the Elt ...

AFL career

AFL rookie draft selection

Maley had a successful season with the Northern Bullants VFL side, and returned in 2023 to his local Eltham Football Club. That year, he led their grand final performance, kicking six goals. He was earmarked for selection, and drafted in the 2024 rookie draft in November 2023 to play with .

2024–present: Training with North Melbourne, AFL debut

Following his draft selection, Maley began training with North Melbourne's AFL side, and playing with their VFL squad. Throughout 2024, he scored 18 goals over 18 games, regularly attaining double-digit numbers of possessions. On 30 April 2025, it was announced that Maley would make his debut in round 8 in North Melbourne's away game at Marvel Stadium against

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

. He kicked a goal with his first kick in AFL football.

Personal life

Maley's father, Paul Maley, was born in the United States and later moved to Australia where he played in the National Basketball League (NBL). His mother also played basketball. Maley's older sister, Anneli, plays in the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maley, Finnbar 2003 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Northern Bullants players Eltham Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club players People from Eltham, Victoria