Jets youngster earning impressive ‘rap’ sheet after standout month
He’s the young attacker ripping it up with the Newcastle Jets throughout the Hyundai A-League 2017/18 Season.
And as a budding rap artist off the pitch, it’s perhaps no surprise Joey Champness has been a smash hit with the Hunter club.
The powerful 20-year-old attacker became the season's third NAB Young Footballer of the Year nominee after a brilliant run of form for the Jets in December.
Not much was known of the former Brisbane Roar youth team player at the start of the campaign.
Having signed a scholarship deal with the Jets early in 2017, Champness then spent six months on loan in Portugal with Academica.
He impressed Jets boss Ernie Merrick in the pre-season and was rewarded with a two-year Hyundai A-league contract.
And the Kiwi-born attacker has been one of the Jets’ best in the surge to second on the ladder.
His speed, directness and eye for goal were a real joy to watch.
With injuries to key attacking stars Ronald Vargas and Roy O’Donovan, Champness has featured in all 13 of Newcastle’s games so far this season.
He has two goals – including one on his debut against the Mariners in Round 1 – and an assist for the campaign and boasts a league-high 80% shooting accuracy.
In December, he contested 72 duels which was the most of any Jets player and 11th overall in the Hyundai A-League.
He also won 10 fouls from five matches played during the final month of 2017, his rate of a shot on target with every 61 touches of the ball in the fourth most frequent of any player in the competition.
If Champness – AKA ‘JOWIC’ - can keep this type of form going, the budding musician is sure to climb the charts in the Hyundai A-League as well.
