AFL world sends flood of messages over news about Bobby Hill and partner Georgia
The Norm Smith medallist is celebrating some happy news amid Collingwood's poor start to the AFL season.
Bobby Hill and partner Georgia Devlin are celebrating some wonderful news amid Collingwood's 0-2 start to the AFL season, with the Magpies hero welcoming his second child. Hill and Devlin took to social media on Tuesday night to share the happy news of baby boy Malakai's arrival.
Malakai is Hill and Devlin's second son and brother to two year-old Bobby Jr. Hill and Devlin posted a number of happy snaps of their family, while Collingwood wrote: "Baby Malakai. A huge congratulations to Bobby Hill, Georgia Devlin and Bobby Jnr on the arrival of Malakai Hill!" A number of other AFL players and fans sent messages of congratulations.
Hill won the Norm Smith Medal in 2023 as the best player in Collingwood's grand final triumph over Brisbane. The midfielder was adjudged best on ground after a scintillating display that helped the Magpies win their first AFL flag since 2010.
The 24-year-old has played 26 games for Collingwood after moving south from the GWS Giants at the end of the 2022 season. The West Australian's grand final heroics capped off a fairytale comeback after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2022.
“I always asked ‘why me’ in that situation,” Hill said last year. “I wouldn’t put that upon anyone. But going back to my family and here at the club, it’s made me a stronger man.
"There’s the family I’ve got with my partner and my little one. I was a long way from WA. Coming to Collingwood, they made me feel at home. To come back from that, it’s a credit to my family.”
Happy news for Bobby Hill amid Collingwood's poor start
The good news for Hill comes amid a difficult time for Collingwood, with the premiers slumping to 0-2 after back-to-back losses to start the 2024 season. The Magpies have been thumped by GWS and the Sydney Swans by 32 and 33 points respectively.
The Lions are also 0-2, marking the first time in 128 years that both of the grand finalists have started the next season with two losses. No team this century has won the flag after losing their first two games of the season, but according to Collingwood coach Craig McRae there's no need to panic.
"I do recall that later in the year last year that apparently we were no chance to win the premiership because no one had won the premiership having lost three of the last five (home-and-away games)," McRae said on Tuesday. "We just like to deal with facts, and we walk in here on Sunday and the place was buzzing.
"There's an energy to get better, and I must admit there was an energy to get better all of last year too. So nothing's changed in there. We'll just keep working better to get better at what we're doing, and we've got work to do. Stay true, Collingwood supporters - we'll turn this around at some stage, I guarantee you that."
RELATED:
McRae said the difficult start is actually a blessing in disguise. "I'm not sure about reality check, but it's definitely a gift," he said.
"Because we get to see where we're at against good opposition and then see parts of the game that we need to improve. And I'm sure at some stage this year we'll look back at this period and go 'gee, that was an important few weeks we had as a group'."
with AAP
