LEGENDARY ruck Stephen Michael, a champion of the WAFL in 243 games for South Fremantle, will be the Sir Doug Nicholls Round honouree for 2025.
Regarded as one of the greatest players to have never played in the VFL/AFL, Michael won back-to-back Sandover Medals in 1980-81 as the best player in the WAFL, while he was also a premiership player at South Fremantle in 1980 and a five-time best-and-fairest winner for the Bulldogs.
A proud Noongar man, Michael never played outside Western Australia, but his remarkable career was recognised nationally when he was selected captain of the 1983 All-Australian side.
He was also picked at centre-half-forward in the Indigenous Team of the Century and inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1999.
Today, Michael is patron of the Stephen Michael Foundation, a charity that delivers school and community-based programs to at-risk and disengaged youth in Western Australia.
“I’m extremely proud to be named as honouree,” Michael said.
“Sir Doug Nicholls was a pioneer for Indigenous football and to be recognised for the round named in his honour, and alongside some of the previous honourees, is extremely humbling.”
Michael’s status as arguably the best ruck in Australia at the peak of his career led to multiple overtures from Victorian clubs to lure him across the country.
But his connection to family and his hometown of Kojonup, south of Perth, meant he remained in the west.
“Geelong were very, very close,” he said in an interview 2020. "I went over to Geelong and we went out to some bloke’s farm for a BBQ in the middle of winter. He was trying to convince me to come over to Geelong and it was pouring rain.
“Geelong were good to me but my family was my main thing and sport came second. I just thought it would take mum and dad four hours to fly to Melbourne and it only takes two to drive from Kojonup.”
The announcement was made in Perth on Tuesday ahead of the return of the Indigenous All Stars this Saturday, who will play a match for the first time in a decade, against Fremantle at Optus Stadium.
Sir Doug Nicholls Round will this year be held across rounds 10 and 11 of the premiership season.
“Stephen is an incredible player and person, who is extremely deserving of this honour, and we a delighted to have him as the 2025 Sir Doug Nicholls Round honouree,” said Tanya Hosch, the AFL’s Executive General Manager Social Inclusion and Policy.
"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to make an enormous contribution to football, and to our nation, and the AFL will once again recognise and celebrate this during Sir Doug Nicholls Round in May this year, along with celebrating the contributions of Stephen Michael.
“It’s fantastic to be here in Western Australia at South Fremantle FC where Stephen played his illustrious career, ahead of the Toyota AFL Indigenous All Stars match in Perth on Saturday. It is a fitting celebration of football and Indigenous culture in Western Australia and around the country.”