Steven May (born 10 January 1992) be 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 oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er playing for the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). He served as the co-captain of Gold Coast in the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

Early life

Steven May was born in Darwin into a family of

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

descent (

Gunbalanya Gunbalanya (also spelt Kunbarlanja, and historically referred to as Oenpelli) is an Aboriginal Australian town in west Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, about east of Darwin. The main language spoken in the community is Kunwi ...

and Larrakia).

Junior football

May began playing his junior football at

Southern Districts Football Club The Southern Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Crocs, is an Australian rules football club established in 1981. The club plays in the Northern Territory Football League at semi-professional level and represent the rural area of Litchfield ...

who compete in the

Northern Territory Football League The Northern Territory Football League (NTFL) is an Australian rules football semi-professional league operating in Darwin in the Northern Territory. The league is one of few (and the highest level) Australian Rules competitions played during ...

. His performances for Southern Districts earned him a scholarship at the

AIS AIS may refer to: Medicine * Abbreviated Injury Scale, an anatomical-based coding system to classify and describe the severity of injuries * Acute ischemic stroke, the thromboembolic type of stroke * Androgen insensitivity syndrome, an intersex ...

in 2008. Later in 2008 he moved to Melbourne to complete his final years of schooling at

Melbourne Grammar (Pray and Work) , established = 1849 (on present site since 1858 - the celebrated date of foundation) , type = Independent, co-educational primary, single-sex boys secondary, day and boarding , denomination ...

. His highlights included an outing against Scotch College in which he kicked 9 goals. While competing for the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

at the 2010 AFL Under 18 Championships, he was named at full forward in the under 18 All-Australian team. Following his efforts at the National Championships, the newly formed

Gold Coast Football Club The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...

signed him as one of their two priority zone selections from the Northern Territory. May would finish the 2010 season for Melbourne Grammar in the

Associated Public Schools of Victoria The Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS) are a group of eleven independent schools in Victoria, Australia, similar to the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales in New South Wales and the Public Schools Assoc ...

competition with 40 goals from eight games, as well as the best and fairest award. Following graduation, he relocating to the Gold Coast at the end of 2010 to begin his AFL career.

AFL career

May made his AFL debut against

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

in round 6 of the 2011 season where he was used as a defender. May finished the 2011 AFL season with nine games and played in defence majority of the year. May was again used in defence for most of the 2012 AFL season until round 21 against

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

where he had his breakout game when moved forward. He would kick three goals and take twelve marks in an impressive display up forward for the Suns. In a 2014 match against 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 reser ...

, May played in defence on two-time

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most goals A goal is an objective that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve. Goal may also refer ...

list

Lance Franklin Lance Franklin (born 30 January 1987), also known as Buddy Franklin, is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Hawthorn Football Club from 20 ...

and played very well, limiting him to only three goals. On 16 April 2016, May knocked out Stefan Martin after leaving his feet to deliver a full-body hit after the ball had gone by. He was suspended for five games. May was named co-captain of the

in December 2016, making him just the sixth indigenous captain in

VFL/AFL The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

history. On 24 May 2017, it was announced that he would wear number 67 on his guernsey, rather than his usual 17, for the round 10 Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round game against . This was to commemorate the 1967 referendum which allowed Indigenous Australians to be counted with the general population in the census. At the conclusion of the 2018 season, May was traded to . His initial period at Melbourne in 2019 was impacted by injuries and he had a slow start. However, since the initial year, his impact and contribution to the Melbourne backline has been outstanding alongside

Jake Lever Jake Lever (born 5 March 1996) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A defender, tall and weighing , Lever plays primarily as a half-back and is known f ...

and Adam Tomlinson . By round 7 in 2021 he averaged 20.2 disposals per match, 16.7 kicks and 6.8 marks. Melbourne remained undefeated, on top of the ladder at that point conceding the least number of points(434) of any team at that point in the season. May won his first

AFL Premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1990, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaugur ...

with

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

as his team defeated defeated

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

in the

2021 AFL Grand Final The 2021 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between and the at Optus Stadium in Perth, Western Australia, on Saturday 25 September 2021. It was the 126th annual grand final of the Australian Football League (AFL) ...

, despite having to play with a serious hamstring injury. In June 2022, May was suspended for one match following a public altercation with teammate Jake Melksham and also drinking alcohol while under the concussion protocols. Sources within the club said that the drunken scuffle was the result of Melksham's comments on May's drinking habit.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of the 2022 season''. , - ,

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2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

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2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

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Honours and achievements

Team * AFL premiership player ():

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football trophy which has been awarded each year since 1951 by the Australian Football League (known prior to 1990 as the Victorian Football League) to the best-performing club in the home-and-away sea ...

():

Individual * Gold Coast captain: 2017–2018 * 2×

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

* Sid Anderson Memorial Trophy (Melbourne B&F Runner-Up): 2020 * Indigenous All-Stars team: 2013 * 22under22 team: 2014

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:May, Steven 1992 births Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Australian rules footballers from the Northern Territory Gold Coast Football Club players Sportspeople from Darwin, Northern Territory People educated at Melbourne Grammar School Living people Northern Territory Football Club players Southern Districts Football Club players Melbourne Football Club players Melbourne Football Club Premiership players One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players