CHAMPNESS Joe

General
CLUB CAREER
He began his professional football career with Brisbane Roar before transferring to Newcastle Jets in September 2017. He took a break from the sport to pursue a career in music between August 2019 and October 2020. He rejoined Newcastle Jets on his return to the sport, and was on loan at Brisbane Roar during the 2020/21 A-League season in Australia. (transfermarkt.co.uk, 30 Jun 2021)

BREAK AND MUSIC CAREER
In August 2019 he decided to take time away from football in order to pursue his music career. He makes hip hop music under the name 'JOWIC' and spent time recording music in Los Angeles, CA, United States of America, before returning to Australia ahead of the 2020/21 A-League season. "It [writing music] has been a passion since school days, it gives me something off the pitch. I was listening to hip hop and I started writing to different beats, [and] kind of got addicted. When I made the decision to come over here [Los Angeles], I didn't know anyone. It was based off intuition and a real gut feeling that I just couldn't ignore. Now I find myself right under the Hollywood sign in this massive home studio that has turned out some big records, and doing business, surrounded by these great people who've done it and believe that I can do it." (brisbaneroar.com.au, 01 Nov 2020; stuff.co.nz, 14 Jun 2021; St Patrick's College Facebook page, 03 May 2018; theguardian.com, 15 Aug 2019; smh.com.au, 20 Feb 2020)

SWITCHING ALLEGIANCES
Born in Auckland, New Zealand, he grew up in Australia and represented the nation at youth level, before deciding to switch his sporting allegiance to play for New Zealand in 2021. (stuff.co.nz, 14 Jun 2021)