Marlon Motlop (born 17 April 1990), also professionally known as Marlon (stylised in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

), is an

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

former

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 and musician. Motlop played with the

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the ...

from 2008 to 2011 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), the country's highest level of professional football. Following his time in the AFL, Motlop played at various state league clubs in Western Australia and South Australia, highlighted by a premiership with the Glenelg Football Club in 2019. Motlop has been developing a career as a

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

since 2020 under the name Marlon, and performed at

WOMADelaide WOMADelaide is an annual four-day festival of music, arts and dance in Botanic Park, Adelaide, South Australia. One of many WOMAD festivals held around the world, it is an event that presents a diverse selection of music from artists around th ...

as half of a

musical duo A musical ensemble, also known as a music group, musical group, or a band is a group of people who perform Instrumental music, instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist ...

known as Mrln x Rkm (stylised in all caps). He is also involved with his cousin Daniel Motlop's native food business.

Early life and family

Marlon has

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

heritage, with his father a Larrakia man and his mother Kungarakany, as well as

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders ( ) are the Indigenous Melanesians, Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal peoples of the res ...

(

Thursday Island Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kalaw Lagaw Ya, Kawrareg dialect, Waiben or Waibene, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately ...

) heritage. His father insisted that he learn to play the

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

around the same time as developing his footballing career as a junior, and he would write songs with his cousins Daniel, Shannon and

Steven Stephen or Steven is an English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is widely regarded as the firs ...

, who would also go on to be AFL footballers.

Football career

Originally from Wanderers Football Club in the Northern Territory Football League (NTFL), Motlop first gained the attention of AFL talent scouts when he won the Allan McLean best-and-fairest medal in the

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

AFL Under-16 Division Two Championships. Motlop was selected by Port Adelaide in the

2007 AFL Draft The 2007 Australian Football League draft consisted of four opportunities for player acquisitions during the 2007/08 Australian Football League off-season. These were AFL trade week, trade week, the national draft, which was held on 24 November ...

using their second pick, the 28th overall. Motlop debuted against

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

in round 21 of the

2008 AFL season The 2008 AFL season was the 112th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixt ...

, contributing six kicks and eight handballs to his team's 78-point win. The following week, Motlop kicked his first AFL goal and collected 16 disposals in a 76-point victory over

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 ...

. He did not play another game in 2008, but returned in round 9 of the 2009 AFL season where he had a quiet game, registering four kicks and two handballs in a 55-point loss to the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

. Round 11 saw Motlop kick one goal and collect 12 kicks and three handballs in a 24-point win over the Fremantle Dockers. In what turned out to be his final AFL match, Motlop did not score in his match against the

Western Bulldogs 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 ...

, but did get 16 disposals. While not playing in the AFL, Motlop played with West Adelaide in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL). Motlop was delisted by Port Adelaide at the end of the 2011 AFL season and moved to

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

(WAFL) club Swan Districts to continue his career in 2012, where he won the club's best and fairest award. Motlop moved to Peel Thunder for the 2013 season, also winning their club's best and fairest. After a two-year stint in the WAFL, where Motlop played state representative football in 2013 against Victoria and registered 28 disposals, he went back to the SANFL where he continued his career at

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct (Australia), precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. Laid out in a grid plan in three section ...

and went on to play 79 league games including representing South Australia in 2015, registering 24 disposals. During Motlop’s time at North Adelaide, he came fourth in the club's best and fairest in 2014 and went on to win their Club Champion award in 2015. In 2018, Motlop signed with Glenelg, where has played until the end of the 2021 season.

Music career

During his last year of playing football in the SANFL, Motlop started developing his career as a musician, playing as a band with team-mate Rulla Kelly-Mansell. The duo, as Mrln x Rkm, opened for

Midnight Oil Midnight Oil (known informally as "The Oils") are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard) and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by H ...

and Vika and Linda at

in March 2021, along with other First Nations artists. Their performance was well-received and gained a glowing review in ''

Rolling Stone Australia ''Rolling Stone Australia'' is the Australian edition of the United States' ''Rolling Stone'' magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture, published monthly. The Australian version of ''Rolling Stone'' was initially published in 197 ...

''. They released their first single, "Black Swan" in June 2021. The duo also perform as Marlon x Rulla. Motlop has also performed at the Bass In the Grass Festival and the AFL's Sir Doug Nicholls Round in front of over 30,000 fans. Motlop released three tracks in 2021, and featured on Urthboy's ''Jangle Bells'', with their collaboration track "Balmy Christmas Eve" releasing on 15 December 2021. Motlop features on the 3% song "Blak Australia Policy" on their album, '' Kill the Dead''.

Singles

Bush food

Motlop is also involved with his cousin Daniel Motlop's native foods business, Something Wild, located in the

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley (Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major list of wine-producing regions, wine-producin ...

References

External links