Martin Mattner (born 6 August 1982) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

and

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) sinc ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). He was traded to Sydney from the Crows in October 2007 in exchange for draft pick number 28. Mattner grew up in a small town called Ki Ki, which is 150 kilometres south-east of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. In the year he was elevated off Adelaide's rookie list (2002), Mattner was having to travel up to

twice a week to train and play

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

for Sturt. Prior to joining Sydney, he was Adelaide's leading tackler for the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

seasons. In the 2006 season, Mattner missed out on two games due to a calf injury. He retired midway through the

2013 AFL season The 2013 AFL season was the 117th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eigh ...

, succumbing to his ongoing hip injury. He took up a coaching role with the

as a development coach until the end of the 2015 season. In October 2015, Mattner was announced as the head coach of Sturt. Martin Mattner is one of the few players to win a SANFL Premiership as a player, a SANFL Premiership as a coach and an AFL Premiership as a player.

AFL career

Mattner grew up in the tiny southeast

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

n town of Ki Ki. He attended

Coomandook Coomandook is a settlement about east-south-east of Adelaide on Dukes Highway in South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of th ...

Area School and played some junior football with the Peake and Districts Football Club. He then sought to further develop his game and progressed to play with the

Imperial Football Club The Imperial Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is an Australian rules football club in Murray Bridge, South Australia. It is one of seven clubs that compete in the River Murray Football League (RMFL). Its colours consist of navy and light blu ...

in 1997, and later Sturt, until he was recruited to the Adelaide Football Club for the 2002 season, off of the rookie list.

2002–2003

Debuting with Adelaide as a 19-year-old, Mattner began his career slowly. After being elevated from Adelaide's

rookie list The rookie list is a means for Australian Football League (AFL) clubs to maintain additional players outside the 38-man primary or senior list. Rookie listed players are not eligible to play in AFL home-and-away or finals matches unless they are e ...

at the start of the 2002 season, he played just seven games for the year. One of his best performances was a game against

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

where he laid 13 tackles, a feature of his game that he had become noted for. He picked up 11 disposals in his first game, and then 13 disposals in a win over St Kilda. He averaged eight disposals a match over his seven games, and had an impressive average of just over three tackles a game. Much was the same the next year, with coach

Gary Ayres Gary James Ayres (born 28 September 1960) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is currently the senior coach for the Montrose Football Club in the Eastern F ...

displaying a tendency to not play his younger players unless a senior player was injured. He was able to play ten games in the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

, averaging nine disposals a match, including 21 in a game against the

Kangaroos Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

, in the same game as he kicked his first goal. Mattner during these two years was still young, and was playing well for his local

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

club Sturt, regularly gathering 20 or more disposals a match as well as laying many bone-crunching tackles. In the 2002 SANFL season, the Double Blues won the premiership over Central District and Mattner was listed among the best players in the Grand Final. Sturt's end of season trip was to

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

. Team members were caught up in the

2002 Bali bombings The 2002 Bali bombings occurred on 12 October 2002 in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack killed 202 people (including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, 23 Britons, and people of more than 20 other nationalit ...

and fellow player Josh Deegan and club official Bob Marshall were killed.

2004–2005

During the 2004 season, Mattner was seen to improve in a number of areas – averaging eleven disposals and playing 16 matches for the year. Midway through a disappointing season for the team (where the Crows missed the finals), new coach

Neil Craig Neil Passmore Craig (born 11 January 1956) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Norwood Football Club, Sturt Football Club and the North Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). He ...

gave Mattner more opportunity than previous coach Ayres, which helped Mattner grow as a player, another feature becoming noticeable was his run through the midfield. His new coach also played him more through the wing than Gary Ayres did, giving him more opportunity as a player. At that time, he had a career equaling 21 disposals in a game against

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, and failed to miss a match after his inclusion in round 7 which shows how well he was performing. In 2005, Mattner came of age and so did a younger Crows outfit. He played all but one match for the season and failed only once to gather more than ten disposals in a disappointing effort against Melbourne. His average of 16 disposals per game seeing him as an important cog in Adelaide's midfield. He also had 98 tackles, which was the highest of any Crows player in the season. His long left-foot kicking, often described as "raking" and "accurate" by television commentators, was vital in setting up many of Adelaide's forward thrusts. He missed just one game in the season, which was in round 22, but failed to have a 15 disposal plus game in any of the Crows' three finals.

was knocked out of the finals race by

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

in the preliminary final.

2006

In 2006, Mattner started to play on a half-back flank, keeping a smaller player relatively quiet and gaining many possessions of his own. This was suggested by former Crows coach

Malcolm Blight Malcolm Jack Blight AM (born 16 February 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for and coached the North Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and Woodville Football Club in the South Australian Nati ...

, as he did with

Andrew McLeod Andrew Luke McLeod (born 4 August 1976) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is the games record holder for Adelaide, having played 340 games. ...

and

Simon Goodwin Simon Goodwin (born 26 December 1976) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He has been the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club of the Australian Football League (AFL) since 2017. As a player, Goodwin tallied 275 AFL ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. At the end of the season, he had only missed out on two games due to a calf injury. He had a career high 27 disposals against St Kilda, and followed that performance with 25 disposals against

playing on the likes of Gary Ablett and

Jimmy Bartel James Ross Bartel (born 4 December 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A utility, tall and weighing , Bartel contributed as a midfielder, forward, an ...

. Also in the game against St Kilda, Mattner had a career high number of kicks and marks playing further in the midfield. He continued to play well during the season, picking up 21 disposals against

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

in round 19 and again against

three weeks later in round 22. He picked up 12

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

votes, beating the likes of veterans

and

Mark Ricciuto Mark Anthony Ricciuto ( ; born 8 June 1975) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). From Ramco, South Australia, Ricciuto started as a junior with the local Waike ...

. In the season, he only failed to pick up 10 disposals or more in a game three times (twice against eventual premiers

), and failed to lay a tackle twice. He kicked five goals for the season, including a career high two goals in a game against the Bulldogs in round 5. He has been praised by coach

after he wanted him to take some parts of his game to a higher level. He is now considered an "automatic selection" player – that is, he will always get into the starting squad unless he is injured.

2007

Mattner managed 19 of 23 games for Adelaide in 2007, though his statistics were well down on previous years. Despite being a naturally attacking player, Mattner was consistently played in defence, rather than on a wing which would be his preferred position. This is often offered as an explanation to his drop in form, and subsequent trading away from the Crows.

2008–2012

Mattner was traded to the Sydney Swans at the end of the 2007 season and quickly found his feet in the Swans' backline. He had a terrific first year at his new club and consequently placed 3rd in the Bob Skilton Medal (Sydney's Best and Fairest Award) behind Jarrad McVeigh and Brett Kirk. His second game for the Swans was his 100th AFL game overall, played against . Since then, Mattner has played some very consistent football in defence and has established himself as a clear best 22 player in Sydney. 2009 and 2010 saw solid form from Mattner while he has started the 2011 season in as strong form as has been seen from him at the club. Mattner has only missed one game in his time at the Sydney Swans, that being round 15, 2010 against North Melbourne. 2011 was one of Mattner's most consistent years in the AFL. He didn't see as much ball rebounding from the back half but, as a pure defender, he produced some of his best football. Mattner played his 200th AFL game in round 9, 2012, against . The milestone was overshadowed by

Lenny Hayes Lenny Hayes (born 14 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 1999 to 2014. He is currently an assistant coach at the St Kilda Fo ...

playing his 250th AFL game for the Saints in the same match, as the Swans lost by 28 points. He went on to play in the Swans' side that won the club's fifth premiership with a victory over . He played an important role in the team, including a ferocious run down tackle on Hawthorn's

Grant Birchall Grant Birchall (born 28 January 1988) is a former Australian rules football player who played with the Hawthorn Football Club and Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League. Career Early career (2006–2008) Birchall had an exceptional ...

in the dying minutes.

2013

Mattner played the first seven rounds of the season in reasonable form however was sidelined for 3 rounds midway through the season. Just prior to round 11, Mattner announced his retirement effective immediately, due to a degenerative hip condition that had caused him constant pain for several years. Mattner stated that to continue playing football would aggravate the injury and could lead to a life of crippling pain.

Coaching career

Mattner became the senior coach of Sturt in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

(SANFL) in 2016. After finishing eighth out of ten in 2015, Sturt won the premiership in his first season as coach, and won its second consecutive premiership in 2017. Mattner joined the Adelaide Football Club post 2018 SANFL season with Sturt and took up an assistant role, Mattner will be in charge of the defenders with Adelaide. After departing Adelaide in 2020 due to reduction in coaching panel sizes, Mattner successfully returned as the coach of the Sturt Football Club in 2021.

Statistics

:Martin Mattner's player profile at AFL Tables
/ref> , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 39 , , 7 , , 0 , , 1 , , 32 , , 22 , , 54 , , 10 , , 22 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 4.6 , , 3.1 , , 7.7 , , 1.4 , , 3.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 39 , , 10 , , 1 , , 2 , , 51 , , 38 , , 89 , , 17 , , 26 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 5.1 , , 3.8 , , 8.9 , , 1.7 , , 2.6 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 39 , , 16 , , 3 , , 4 , , 93 , , 86 , , 179 , , 44 , , 49 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 5.8 , , 5.4 , , 11.2 , , 2.8 , , 3.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 39 , , 24 , , 4 , , 9 , , 194 , , 188 , , 382 , , 80 , , 98 , , 0.2 , , 0.4 , , 8.1 , , 7.8 , , 15.9 , , 3.3 , , 4.1 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

, style="text-align:center;", , 39 , , 22 , , 5 , , 5 , , 180 , , 164 , , 344 , , 96 , , 66 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 8.2 , , 7.5 , , 15.6 , , 4.4 , , 3.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 39 , , 19 , , 1 , , 2 , , 143 , , 148 , , 291 , , 83 , , 44 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 7.5 , , 7.8 , , 15.3 , , 4.4 , , 2.3 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 29 , , 24 , , 4 , , 6 , , 257 , , 190 , , 447 , , 108 , , 116 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 10.7 , , 7.9 , , 18.6 , , 4.5 , , 4.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 29 , , 22 , , 12 , , 3 , , 209 , , 154 , , 363 , , 90 , , 95 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 9.5 , , 7.0 , , 16.5 , , 4.1 , , 4.3 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 29 , , 23 , , 6 , , 2 , , 232 , , 153 , , 385 , , 93 , , 64 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 10.1 , , 6.7 , , 16.7 , , 4.0 , , 2.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 29 , , 24 , , 3 , , 1 , , 206 , , 120 , , 326 , , 77 , , 106 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 8.6 , , 5.0 , , 13.6 , , 3.2 , , 4.4 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 29 , , 24 , , 1 , , 3 , , 205 , , 122 , , 327 , , 81 , , 74 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 8.5 , , 5.1 , , 13.6 , , 3.4 , , 3.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 29 , , 7 , , 0 , , 0 , , 49 , , 27 , , 76 , , 23 , , 19 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 7.0 , , 3.9 , , 10.9 , , 3.3 , , 2.7 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 222 ! 40 ! 38 ! 1851 ! 1412 ! 3263 ! 802 ! 779 ! 0.2 ! 0.2 ! 8.3 ! 6.4 ! 14.7 ! 3.6 ! 3.5

References

;Publications *Gleeson, Michael. ''AFL 2002 – The Official Yearbook''. Sydney:Harper Collins Publishers, 2002. ;Notes & Web references

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mattner, Martin Adelaide Football Club players Sydney Swans players Sydney Swans Premiership players Sturt Football Club players 1982 births Living people Australian rules footballers from South Australia Sturt Football Club coaches One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players