Wil Malady will be drafted into the AFL next month.
Most prognosticators expect the jack-in-the-box forward, who boasts some of the best aerial highlights of any prospect in this year’s class, to be gone inside the first 15 picks.
The AFL academy member has long arms, a big leap, and ran the 20-metre sprint at the draft combine in a blink-of-the-eye 2.9 seconds. Malady’s aunty also happens to be Nicki Malady, Richmond’s media boss.
Yet not that long ago, the country boy from Bairnsdale had to resort to begging to land a scholarship at Caulfield Grammar.
Malady previously aborted his plans to relocate to Melbourne for school – privately conceding he was not ready to move 280 kilometres away from family – but a standout performance at the AFL under-16 championships on the Gold Coast two years ago stoked the fire again.
He returned home as an All-Australian after being the hero in Victoria Country’s under-16 title win, and told his parents he wanted to apply.
Football was a key driver in Malady’s decision, but he also wanted to prioritise his schooling, given he was weighing up dropping out to be an apprentice electrician if he stayed home.
The problem was the scholarship deadlines had long since passed.
“All the applications were closed for scholarships, so I sat down and wrote these rogue emails, with spelling mistakes everywhere. It was horrible,” Malady told this masthead, laughing.
“I sent one to Dad, and he’s like, ‘You’ve got to fix all this’. I was like, ‘It’s too late. It’s already sent’.
“I wrote heaps of emails to all the boarding schools in the APS. I was lucky enough that a few got back to me, which were Melbourne Grammar, Scotch [College], and then Caulfield.”
Fortunately for Malady, those schools found his mistakes charming.
Staff at each of the three institutions rang his dad and cheerily told him it was abundantly obvious that his son’s email was authentic and sincere.
“I just wrote that I was a country boy from Bairnsdale, and I wanted to play footy and better my schooling,” Malady said. “They rang Dad and were like, ‘We can tell this kid’s written it. There’s no AI – it’s truly from the heart’, which was pretty cool.”
After all that, he never met with Melbourne Grammar, and Scotch College pulled out, but Caulfield Grammar came to the party.
Fellow Gippsland Power rising star Marlon Neocleous went to Caulfield, too, which helped Malady’s transition as a boarder, and he never looked back.
It meant more travel at times, but that is nothing new for Malady or many of his Power teammates.
“It’s crazy. To get to ‘Gippy’ training when I was back home [in Bairnsdale], it was almost two hours,” he said.
“I’d leave school at 3.15, bus it down [to Morwell], get back at 10, sleep, get up the next morning, and go to school. It was a struggle, but Mum and Dad helped a lot and would sometimes pick me up instead of me going on the bus that goes through all the towns.
“Making the AFL is my dream, so it was all worth it.”
Malady played only seven matches for Gippsland this past season, but kicked 18 goals, including five in the Power’s drought-busting grand final triumph over the Dandenong Stingrays, the same opponent they beat for their inaugural premiership 21 years earlier.
The Power were coached by Kris Pendlebury, brother of AFL games record-holder Scott.
“It was a massive day,” Malady said.
“The build-up was crazy, and then game day came around and nerves were high, but after a bit of a slow start, everything clicked and came together. I was lucky enough to kick five in the second half.”
Malady’s athleticism, rangy frame and marking ability often see him likened to Carlton forward Will Hayward or Geelong’s All-Australian winger Ollie Dempsey, who Malady has studied closely this year. Hawk Jack Gunston is another star he looks up to.
Recruiters mostly view 193-centimetre Malady as a forward, but believe he could also be effective on a wing or even at half-back.
The 18-year-old’s marking ability will be an asset in any of those roles.
It was on display for Victoria Country at the national championships, including one acrobatic leap against Western Australia on the wing. Malady followed up with an even better one in the APS grand final.
“The ball was put up high, and I had a free path in front of me, jumped, and he sat underneath it, so I got a good ride,” he said.
“It’s pretty good when you bring them down. It’s a bit annoying when you’re up there and hold it all away, then you get to the ground and drop it – but I love taking a big hanger.”
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