REMEMBER the name CJ Malmborg, because he appears set for a dazzling career in Aussie Rules.
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This comes off the back of the 12-year-old recently being named in the NSW PSSA boys state AFL team, following a strong showing with his South Coast side.
"I was very excited and relieved to be named in the state team because I know how much hard work had gone into it," Malmborg, who was named in the squad alongside fellow South Coast teammate Bryce Kellar (Pambula Public School), said.
"The selection gives me confidence for not only the rest of the season but also moving forward in my career."
The journey of the Woollamia product, who started playing footy at age five in Auskick, to this selection, started in March with the South Coast trials.
He and his squad of 22 then headed to Byron Bay's Cavanbah Sports Complex for the May 4-6 PSSA championships, which saw the top 286 school-aged footy players compete against one another.
South Coast opened their tournament with a 5.5-33 to 0.3-3 loss against the Combined Independent Schools.
In their second match, they again went down, losing 7.5-57 to 0.2-2 to Sydney East before ending their pool matches with their third straight to MacKillop (6.6-42 to 1.1-7).
After finishing their pool in fourth, they crossed over in the quarter-finals against first-placed in the other pool Polding.
But despite that, South Coast edged their rivals 2.5-17 to 2.2-14, to progress to the semi-finals.
Here they were again faced MacKillop, who easily accounted for Malmborg's side 11.12-78 to 0.1-1.
These results then pitted them once again against CIS for the bronze medal and despite leading heading into the final two minutes, went down 22-20 - to finish fourth out of 13 teams.
"I thoroughly enjoyed testing myself against the best players in the state and thought I played strongly across the three days," the ruck/halfback said.
It was following this fixture the Huskisson Public School student was named in the NSW merit team, which unfortunately won't get to compete on the national stage, as Adelaide's All Schools was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Despite this, Malmborg's school is still extremely proud of his efforts.
"CJ is not only a great sportsman but he is an absolutely amazing student," said Darrne Vidler, who teaches Malmborg at Huskisson Public School.
"He is one of the most kind, caring and humble students that I have been involved with.
"He is a fantastic role model for our school and they are extremely proud of him."
The Bay and Basin junior will now shift his attention to further representative honours.
"This state selection has encouraged me to keep training hard and performing at a high level in my Bombers games, as well as while in the GWS Giants Academy (seeing him travel to western Sydney and Canberra for training) and future representative carnivals - including the upcoming one in Nowra in July with the under 13s Shoalhaven teams," said Malmborg, who is the two-time reigning Shoalhaven AFL under 11s best and fairest.
"If I can do that while having fun with my footy mates, I'm confident I'll continue to improve in all aspects of playing footy."
CJ is following in the footy footsteps of his older brother Taj, who has recently been selected in the under 15s South Coast AFL representative that played at Coffs Harbour in April, side despite being just 13.
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