Sam Michael (footballer)
Sam Michael (born 5 July 1993) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions and Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited by the Brisbane Lions as a Queensland zone selection from the Redland Australian Football Club in the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) with the 96th selection in the 2012 Rookie Draft. In 2012, Michael won the Andrew Ireland Medal, for best on ground on the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) inter-conference Grand Final. He made his AFL debut against Carlton in round  9 of the 2013 AFL season after being upgraded from the rookie list to replace the injured Claye Beams. In February 2015, Michael was given a short-term contract by Essendon to play in the 2015 NAB Challenge as a "top-up" player, due to 26 Essendon players withdrawing from the NAB Challenge because of the ongoing supplements controversy. In February 2016, he signed a one-year contract with the club as a top-up player for the 2016 season. Early life. Sam was born in Brisbane, Australia, and moved to Cairns soon after. He played junior AFL with the  Cairns Hawks AFC. Michael married long-time girlfriend Thea Michael in 2013. Statistics. ! | 2013 ! | 2014 ! | 2016 !| Career ! 5 ! 0 ! 0 ! 15 ! 18 ! 33 ! 13 ! 12 ! 37 ! 0.0 ! 0.0 ! 3.0 ! 3.6 ! 6.6 ! 2.6 ! 2.4 ! 7.4