Majak Daw (born 11 March 1991) is a professional Football player, playing for the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Daw was born in Khartoum, Sudan. His family, (Parents and 3 brothers & sisters) fled the Second Sudanese Civil War, living in Egypt for three years, then moved to Australia in 2003. Daw and his family came to Australia as refugees.
Daw first played football while attending secondary school at MacKillop College in Werribee.
After completing Secondary School, Daw played for the Western Jets in the TAC Cup when 19 years old, turning in some impressive performances in 2009. Playing for the Western Jets Daw was identified as a future “key position” player by North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs. Daw went to the 2009 Victorian Screening portion of the AFL pre-draft testing.
He impressed with a 13.6 in the beep test and 3.03 seconds in a 20-meter sprint along with a standing jump of 70 centimeters. He was one of 11 young Australian rules footballers to be given 2010 Mike Fitzpatrick Scholarships awarded by the AFL Players Association.
During the 2009 Victorian screening portion of the AFL pre-draft testing at the latter part of 2009. He impressed with a 13.6 in the beep test and 3.03 seconds in a 20-meter sprint along with a standing jump of 70 centimeters.
Daw became the first Sudanese Australian to be picked up with the ninth pick in the 2010 rookie draft to by North Melbourne.
In the June 2011, Majak Daw was racially abused by a Port Melbourne Football Club supporter, while he was playing for the Werribee Tigers. Daw stated that it “made me feel really small”. The man has since been banned from all VFL games until he completes an anti-racism workshop and formally apologizes to Daw for the racial abuse. The incident has led to renewed calls to stamp out racism in sport, with former Victorian Premier, Ted Baillieu, calling Daw a hero.
Daw’s drafting gained international attention; it was reported by the BBC and the Voice of America. Majak Daw made his first appearance for North Melbourne in a NAB Cup match on 20 February 2011.
Calls came for an AFL debut in 2013, after an excellent showing in the 2013 NAB Cup which prompted calls for his inclusion in the senior side.
When tall forward Robbie Tarrant went down with a thigh injury, Daw was brought in to replace him and he made his debut in Round 4 against the Brisbane Lions. In the first minute of the game, Daw marked the ball inside 50 and kicked his first AFL goal with his first AFL kick, North went on to win the game by 63 points.
Daw held his spot and played the next week, scoring three behinds against Hawthorn. In Round 7 against the Western Bulldogs, Majak had a breakout performance in just his fourth career game, kicking a game-high 6 goals in North’s 54 point win. After the match, North Melbourne coach Brad Scott said of Majak: “‘Maj’ is a good example of what you can do with really hard work. Hard work trumps talent any day of the week”‘.
He was de-listed by North in October 2015, however, he was re-drafted in 2016 by North Melbourne in the rookie draft. Soon after he was promoted from the Rookie List to the Senior List.
In 2016, Majak Daw won mark of the year after taking a specky against Collingwood. Majak played the most games in a season in his career at that point, in addition to playing in his first final, which was in the elimination final against Adelaide and kicking four goals despite North Melbourne losing 141–79.
In 2017, the North Melbourne staff looked to add versatility to Daw’s game and as an AFL player, He said “it’s a unique position to be in moving from Key Forward to Key Defense” “There aren’t many players who can do that role well. It’s challenging because you’ve got to be able to play both positions well.” In 2017 he was nominated for Mark of the Year on two occasions playing as a forward. However, injuries meant he played only seven games in total.
In 2018 Daw changed his position from a forward to a defender at the request of the North coaching staff. Daw sought this change as he thought it was his last chance at thriving in the AFL. Daw took well to defense and managed to make the highlight reels as a Key defender, taking high-flying intercept marks and laying big bumps. Ever since debuting in his first game as a defender Daw has lead North Melbourne to the number 2 defense in the AFL. In 2018, alongside the likes of Scott Thompson, Robbie Tarrant, and Jamie Macmillan, Daw quickly became one of the best intercept marks in the game thanks to his strong hands and impressive jump.
The 27-year-old played a personal best 18 games in 2018 averaging 5.3 marks per game, the most in his AFL career.
Aliir Aliir (Sydney Swan) said in 2018, he hopes his duel with Majak Daw can inspire the next generation of Sudanese stars to play AFL. Aliir was opposed to Daw for the Round 7 match, opening three quarters before sneaking forward to clinch the Swans’ six-point win over North Melbourne.
“He set the tone for myself as a young kid playing under 18’s, (while) he was the first Sudanese (player) to make it on an AFL list, I was looking up to him,” Aliir said.
“Hopefully there’s other Sudanese kids out there who want to play AFL footy one day, Majak certainly set the standards for us and I’m glad to see him doing well.” Allir has said.
