Matthew Rosa (born 23 November 1986) 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

Gold Coast Football Club The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...

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). Originally from

Warracknabeal Warracknabeal ( ) is a wheatbelt town in the Australian state of Victoria. Situated on the banks of the Yarriambiack Creek, 330 km north-west of Melbourne, it is the business and services centre of the northern Wimmera and southern Mallee d ...

and later

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Rosa played under-18 football for the

North Ballarat Rebels The Greater Western Victoria Rebels is an Australian rules football club which plays in the NAB League, the statewide under-18s competition in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Initially known as the Ballarat Rebels and wearing green an ...

in the

TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victo ...

before being drafted by the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...

in the 2004 National Draft. He made his debut for the club in 2005 and was nominated for the

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Buc ...

the following season in 2006. He played 168 games for

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 ...

but at the end of the 2015 season, requested a trade to the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...

. Having played 207 games, Rosa hung up the boots at the end of the 2018 season. In October 2018 he has joined the

coaching panel which he left at 2020 season's end.

Career

He is a midfielder who was recruited as the number 29 draft pick in the 2004 AFL Draft from the

. Rosa made his debut for the West Coast Eagles in Round 17, 2005 against 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 ...

. He was selected for first two weeks of the 2006 finals, but then was dropped for the last two weeks of finals, being named as an emergency for the

2006 AFL Grand Final The 2006 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Sydney Swans and West Coast Eagles, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 30 September 2006. It was the 110th annual grand final of the Austral ...

, which the Eagles won. The 2007 season bought new opportunities for Rosa, who played 22 games for the home and away season and was selected in the squad to play in both the two games in the finals series. He suffered from shin splints in 2008, restricting him to just 8 games for the season.Eagles secure Lynch and Rosa with new contracts
/ref> He returned in 2009 to play all 22 games. Rosa played his 150th game in 2014 and re-signed with the club for two more years, however, in October 2015, he requested and later received a trade to the Gold Coast Suns. In August 2018, Rosa announced his retirement from AFL football.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosa, Matt 1986 births Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Living people Greater Western Victoria Rebels players North Ballarat Football Club players Peel Thunder Football Club players West Coast Eagles players People from Warracknabeal Australian people of Italian descent Gold Coast Football Club players People educated at St Patrick's College, Ballarat