Michael Newton (Australian rules footballer)

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**Michael Newton**
Personal information

Birth	July 24, 1987 (1987-07-24) (age 20),
Recruited from	Murray Bushrangers
Height and weight	193cm / 87kg
Playing career¹
Debut	Round 13, June 29, 2007, Melbourne vs. Essendon, at Telstra Dome
Team(s)	Melbourne (2007-) 10 games, 14 goals
¹ Statistics to end of 2007 season
Career highlights
Mark of the Year 2007

Michael Newton (born April 27, 1987) is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League.

Taken at pick 43 in the 2004 AFL Draft, Newton was given plenty of time to mature in the Victorian Football League at the Sandringham Football Club where he had kicked big bags of goals on a number of occasions and before debuting for the Demons in 2007 in Round 13 in Neale Daniher's final game as coach.

With a knee injury to David Neitz, Newton was required to be a stand in full forward and subsequently played successive games, kicking a goal in his first game and bagging an impressive 3 goals against Carlton. Having an impressive debut season, he took the 2007 Mark of the year, marking high above a pack, resting on David Neitz's head [1]

Quickly gathering a cult following amongst Dees fans due to his high-marking, Newton now receives shouts of 'Juice' upon every disposal. His nickname was influenced by 1970's American pop and country singer Juice Newton, who also provided the same nickname for former Melbourne player Leigh Newton during his brief career in 1997.

Newton's 2008 season has been dominated by a knee injury. After kicking one goal in Round 1 against Hawthorn, Newton was dropped to the VFL to play for Melbourne's affiliated club, Sandringham, which is where he picked up a knee injury.