Matt Campbell (born 21 January 1987) is a former professional

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 with the

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Kangaroos also ...

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 ...

from 2006 - 2012. He is described as being small and lightly framed but is a very fast player with excellent evasive skills.

Early life

Campbell, of

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

heritage with tribal ancestry that can be traced to the Arrente, grew up in

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. He began his senior football in 2005 with North Adelaide in the

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 ...

and played every game with the club in 2006. Campbell was drafted by the Kangaroos and moved to

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 ...

in 2006. After being dropped from the Kangaroo's list at the end of the 2012 season, Campbell was re-recruited by North Adelaide and returned to the

in 2013.

North Melbourne career

Campbell made his AFL debut for 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 Round 1, 2007 against Collingwood. He had a poor game, with only 3 possessions, and was dropped for the following game against

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

, which would have seen him playing back in his hometown. Round 3 saw him re-selected and gather 12 possessions as well as kicking his first AFL

goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ai ...

. He continued his good form with 13 possessions against the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

, and he kicked 2 goals in Round 5 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, ...

. Despite having only 4 kicks in Round 6 against

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, he kicked 3 goals; his third coming late in the final quarter when the Swans had got within four points.

Return to North Adelaide

He then returned to

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 ...

to play for his original club

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

for a three-year stint back at the

Prospect Oval Prospect Oval is a sports stadium located at Menzies Crescent, Prospect, South Australia. The oval has a capacity of 20,000 people with seated grandstands holding approximately 2,000. An unusual feature of the oval is that it is laid out askew ...

and then retired at the end of the 2014

season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Matt North Melbourne Football Club players 1987 births Living people Australian rules footballers from the Northern Territory Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football North Adelaide Football Club players Darwin Football Club players North Ballarat Football Club players Australia international rules football team players People from Alice Springs