The talented centre was born in Sydney, moved to Kempsey as a baby and spent the first decade of his life at Green Hill before returning to the big smoke.

A promising half in his youth, Champion was snapped up by Souths as a youngster and made his run on debut against the Sharks as an 18 year-old in 2005.

He played eight first grade games for the club that season, winning six, but a severe ankle injury at the end of the year kept him on the sidelines for the whole of 2006.

In 2007 he returned to the fold, playing with Souths NSW Cup side the North Sydney Bears.

A strong off-season at the beginning of 2008 lead to a recall in round three of this year against Manly and he has played in virtually every game since.

“I think I missed two games this year, that’s it,” he said.

“I had a change in position, from the halves to the centres, which I think helped and this year’s really the first proper off-season I’ve completed in more than three years.”

After a topsy-turvy year for the club, in which the side lost nine consecutive games to start the season, Champion credits coach Jason Taylor and the emergence of a number of promising new players with the team’s resurgence as a premiership force.

“Early in the season a lot of the club’s big names were either injured or underperformed, which meant JT had to resort to youth.

“With players like Chris Sandow, Jamie Simpson and Luke Capewell coming through we had to change our style of footy from defence, where we were grinding out games to attack, with a lot of our young footballers capable of scoring a lot of points,” he said.

Champion said at Souths end of season celebration dinner recently coach Taylor had stressed that the 2008 season would ultimately prove more beneficial to the club than 2007, when the team made its first finals series in over a decade.

“JT said it was important because we learned why we weren’t winning and weren’t performing this season,” he said.

“And from a club perspective the best thing that came out of this year was we found a long term halfback in Chris Sandow.”

Champion said he felt like 2008 had been a fresh beginning in his still fledgling career and away from the football paddock he has also been making a significant impact as a role-model to young indigenous children. He was awarded the Bob McCarthy medal for Clubman of the Year at the club’s presentation for his work with Souths Cares.

“It’s mainly promotional work. The club’s vision is to help the local community by providing positive role models for young kids, especially young indigenous kids, and inspire them to follow the same path I’ve trodden,” he said.

“Essendon in the AFL has a big indigenous supporter base and a lot of Aboriginal players, and our club is going down a similar path.”

Champion still has a year to go on his current contract with the club, but said he would love to be given the opportunity to stay with Souths beyond the 2009 season.

“I’d like to be here until at least the end of 2011,” he said.

He has also been selected in the National Indigenous side to play the New Zealand Maori at the start of the upcoming Rugby League World Cup.

“It’s another step forward for me,” he said.