Lucky luncheon with Leigh Matthews

[qldmagpie67]

I was lucky enough to purchase a table at a charity luncheon this week and to my surprise and delight we had the pleasure of having Leigh Matthews sit at our table as a special guest.
The conversation typically turned to AFL and after some other diners at my table exhausted the Lions topic I decided to quiz the great man on all things Collingwood.

The questions I asked where as follows along with the replies from Leigh Matthews.

Q1 - Where do you think Collingwood are at as a team.
A - I think there somewhere between 4 - 8. Said we lack consistency which is normal of a young team developing a new game plan
Q2 - How is Bucks going as a coach
A - He is learning on the job. Hard to follow a coach who had a prolonged success. Needed to stamp his own ethos on the team and now he has done that so going forward should get a better idea. He said if hard work was a gauge of a good coach Buckley would be very successful
Q3 - How do you rate our mid field compared to his triple premiership team.
A - Said Swan, Pendles & Beams where the equal of any mid field he has seen in all his years involved in the game. He made the point he had 4 or 5 at times rotating through the mid field and said after those 3 there is a huge drop off in our talent. I pushed him more on this asking specifically about Sidebottom and he replied he is a very good player but lacks consistency nd his kicking was at best haphazard. He said when you looked at Voss, Ackermanis, Lappin, Black they were all very good kicks and consistent. He tempered his reply by saying he thought Sidebottom had the potential to be a A grade mid fielder.
Q4 - What would you do with Travis Cloke if you were coach
A - He said simple he would tell him to run run run and run more until he exhausted his opponent and then could get easier opportunities inside the forward 50. Interesting point he says he believes Travis has lost his strength which was his aerobic emphasis and created him more chances.

Overall he was a delightful lunch companion and his overall views on the game and he was more than happy to offer opinion on any topic raised st the table not just AFL topics.
Wish I could have had the opportunity just to have him give opinion on Collingwood and not waste half our time on the Lions but then again I am biased.

[Bob Sugar]

I would've asked him to explain how Voss was a better player than Daicos, then I would've told him to sit somewhere else.

[Damien]

Fairly predictable replies really, which is certainly not a criticism. In fact whenever I've heard him speak about coaching his ethos has been to keep it simple. He reckons he did all his coaching midweek and left it to the players on game day. If you listened to the thing fox did on GF day live in his box in 2002 it was remarkably quiet. he His views are pretty much aligned with the general consensus on all those topics. Great man great player and clearly a great coach who has a massive spot in our history.

Great read thanks mate.

[3rd degree]

[Bob Sugar]

[qldmagpie67]

[3rd degree]

[E]

Leigh matthews was a dirty filthy player. a sniper who was lucky that this was tolerated when he played. He would not be half the player he was then if he played now because half of his ability to dominate a game stemmed from the fear he could instil in opponents that he would knock their teeth out or worse.

separately, he hates Collingwood and simply gave you politically correct answers. He hates us i tell you.

Thirdly, i have been involved in his charitable work with ron barassi and the late great Jim stynes and i can tell you that he is a great person with a very kind and generous heart and is a very charismatic person.

quite an ironic twist that.....

[Damien]

[Flashman]

Matthews was a filthy sniping player on occasion. He also happened to be one of the greatest footballers ever to play and would have dominated any era he played in. His blend of strength, superb skill, unbelievable play reading and determination would make him a champion in any era with ease.

Take a look at his stats

http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/L/Leigh_Matthews.html

They are just unbelievably consistently outstanding. No wonder Hawthorn dominated the competition during his time and his 8 B&F's playing in those super sides sums up how good he was.

And he does speak fondly of his decade coaching Collingwood in his book (which is a great read incidentally).

[E]

[E]

did i mention he was a dirty mongrel? this collection of hits are among the worst collection of hits in AFL history. Mainly attacks unsuspecting players.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3usWhXxITA

Some of these hits could easily ended up as badly as the Greening incident!

[think positive]

Gees some of those are mind boggling. Worse than dermies hit list?

[Bob Sugar]

[Pies4shaw]

Well, that would be just inviting trouble.