In Melbourne’s hardscrabble western suburbs where AFL – Aussie rules football – is a state religion, Callum Donaldson has been quietly grafting away, four months into an odyssey that he hopes will take him to another promised land: the NRL. It was a solid 2023 for the softly spoken 20-year-old – not a breakout year, more the disciplined, methodical hard yards you expect from a rugby league lock.
Last March, Callum led from the front as his South Island Scorpions fought their way through to the final of the NZRL’s National 20s Ruben Wiki Cup. In a tournament full of “massive dudes looking to smash you” he stood his ground – more than that, he excelled, winning two MVPs and catching the eye of NRL heavyweights the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.
Except Callum already had other plans, scaling back his degree at Otago to one distance paper and accepting an offer to join the Altona Roosters – a chance to impress the mighty Melbourne Storm. His dream? The Storm U21s. Callum’s winter has been pure blue-collar grind, joining a team dominated by the Kiwi, Māori and Pasifika brothers. Rising at dawn, unloading freight containers until mid-afternoon, then daily training sessions into the night. Game day Saturday. Sunday? Recovery. Midwinter swims at the beach, nature’s ice bath.
He’s loved every minute. Bred in Ngahere (population 350) 25km from Greymouth, Callum has an impeccable league lineage. Pop (grandfather Paul) and father Bing, a lineman, are stalwarts of the Waro-Rakau Hornets, while his GP mum Emma lost years of weekends ferrying Callum and younger brother Liam to games. It doesn’t get more heartland rugby league than the Coast. Callum has heard the stories. Like the one about the 1946 Great Britain Lions, who stormed through Australia, won two tests and drew one, then steamed to New Zealand aboard the aircraft carrier Indomitable, wreathed in their own mythology, only to perish 17–8 in the Greymouth mud.
For the next decade, the Kiwis were the best in the world, their teams studded with Coasters – legends such as George Menzies, Bill McLennan and Jock Butterfield, who played a record 99 games. Those were great days: these are glorious ghosts. And though the mines are quiet now and the sawmills silent, league still means the world here.
In Callum’s childhood bedroom hang pictures of Simon Mannering and Tohu Harris, snipped from old league mags. “Everything’s still there as it was,” he says, smiling. His heroes. “Totally dependable,” he says of Mannering. “A defensive warhorse.” Tohu Harris? “A warrior held together with tape.” They’re two players whose stories are not told through dazzling steps or outrageous offloads on TikTok reels, but who were the steady, stoic spines of their teams – the very qualities Callum embodies.
Standing at 183cm and weighing 93kg, he’s no giant. But what he lacks in mass, he makes up for in grit and heart. “My biggest strength? Work-rate,” he says. “I’ll keep going the whole game – tackling, taking hit-ups, doing everything.” Those words aren’t just Sky Sport cliches; they’re his creed. “Callum hits like a Mack truck and carries the ball all day,” eulogised his old club before the young player moved to Melbourne. “His work-rate is almost unrivalled.”
Another inspiration has been the Pinnacle Programme, a mentoring initiative that aims to mould the Callums of the world into better, self-assured athletes, artists, humans. Callum joined aged 15. It was Pinnacle that introduced him to Elijah Taylor, one-time Warrior, Panther, Tiger and Kiwi legend – and grafter who once made a record 77 tackles in an NRL game. (Elijah graduated from the Pinnacle Programme in 2010.) The connection blossomed into friendship; into life lessons and advice via WhatsApp and Insta DMs.
As Callum was driving to the airport en route to Altona, the Bulldogs beckoned, “Come to Sydney.” Callum admits he was thrown, but Elijah’s experience steadied his hand. “Your time playing footie can be short,” he texted. “Focus on what’s best for you.” So to Melbourne. Frustrating losses and near misses followed, his final match, a 62-14 thumping of defending champions Truganina, not enough to get Altona into the semi-finals. But Callum’s work ethic shone.
He was noticed, invited to train with the Storm juniors. And he was named in the Victoria State men’s team that won the Combined Affiliated States comp in September. Oh, and the Bulldogs got back in touch – they’d been keeping tabs since that U20s tourney in March. In November, Callum moved to Sydney to join their U21 squad. As he begins this new chapter, he carries the dreams of a tiny West Coast town, the wise counsel of Elijah, and the love of a family who he checks in with daily. The dream is a step closer, he says. The boy who once cut out pictures of his heroes remains on track to become one.
Find out more about the Hyundai New Zealand Pinnacle Programme here.
