Matthew Suckling (born 25 July 1988) 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
Hawthorn Football Club
The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...
and
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.
Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...
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). Suckling is known as a player with precision kicking and link-up play from defence. Characteristic of his style of play is his very long range, very accurate kicking.
Early life
Hailing from
Wagga Wagga
Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...
, Suckling played football with
Isaac Smith in the Wagga Hawks for several years before both moved to the Wagga Tigers where they won two premierships.
Rookie
First drafted by the Hawthorn Football Club at pick 22 in the
2007 Rookie draft. He was struck down by
osteitis pubis
Osteitis pubis is a noninfectious inflammation of the pubis symphysis (also known as the pubic symphysis, symphysis pubis, or symphysis pubica), causing varying degrees of lower abdominal and pelvic pain. Osteitis pubis was first described in pa ...
for most of 2007 but was retained on the rookie list for 2008. Suckling was redrafted to Hawthorn's rookie list by the club at pick 81 in the
2009 Rookie draft.
At the 2009 rookie draft, where Hawthorn had agreed to redraft Suckling; the club mistakenly read out the wrong player registration number and accidentally selected the
Sandringham Dragons
The Sandringham Dragons are an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based at the Trevor Barker Oval in Sandringham, Victoria, representing the southern ...
' best-and-fairest player, Matthew Suckling
He was then finally drafted to Hawthorn's senior list with pick 70 in the
2009 AFL draft.
Career
![Mattsuckling](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Mattsuckling.jpg)
He made his debut for Hawthorn in the opening round of the
2009 AFL season
The 2009 AFL season was the 113th 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 six ...
in the rematch of the
2008 AFL Grand Final
The 2008 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between the Geelong Football Club and the Hawthorn Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 27 September 2008. It was the 112th annual grand fi ...
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, ...
.
The 20-year-old defender was one of three Hawks playing their first game in the MCG blockbuster.
Omitted the next week because of injury, Suckling was unable to break back into the side; he was listed as an emergency later in the year. In 2010 he played five games, and was on the verge of selection for most of the season.
2011 was a breakthrough year for Suckling; with his precision kicking and link-up play he became a key to Hawthorn's defence. Characteristic of his style of play is his very long range, very accurate kicking.
Suckling was selected as the
Australia international rules football team
:''This article concerns the men's team; for information on the Australian women's team, see Australia women's international rules football team.''
The Australia international rules football team is Australia's senior representative team in Inte ...
's goalkeeper for the
2011 International Rules Series in Australia. Australia lost the series 2–0, with a 130–65 aggregate score. Suckling was one of two Hawthorn players selected for the team, along with
Liam Shiels
Liam Shiels (born 29 April 1991) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the North Melbourne Football Club, in the Australian Football League (AFL). Shiels is a midfielder who developed into a key member of the midfield for the Hawthor ...
.
Suckling was one of three Hawthorn players to play every game in 2012.
During the 2013 NAB Cup pre season competition Suckling tore his anterior cruciate ligament whilst playing against Richmond. Suckling missed the entire 2013 season due to the injury that required a full knee reconstruction.
Suckling returned to the side in 2014, and would go on to claim his elusive premiership medal in the club's 2014 Grand Final win. He followed this up with a premiership win in
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
, starting the game as a substitute and coming on late in the third quarter for
David Hale; with the abolition of the
substitute rule at the end of the
2015 AFL season
The 2015 AFL season was the 119th 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 ...
, this meant that Suckling became the last player to be substituted into a game.
Following the Grand Final, Suckling exercised his right as a free agent and joined the Western Bulldogs. In his first season at the Western Bulldogs Suckling was unfortunate to miss the Preliminary Final and Grand Final victories with an Achilles injury. Suckling became a regular in the Bulldog's backline but in 2018 after playing 11 games he suffered an achilles injury ultimately ended his season. He returned to form in 2019 playing 19 games but only managed 7 games in his final season.
Suckling was delisted by the at the conclusion of the
2020 AFL season
The 2020 AFL season was the 124th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season feature ...
, after 76 games for the club over his five years at the club.
Suckling retired at the conclusion of the 2020 season.
Statistics
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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 ...
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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; ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
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2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
# , , , , 4
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,
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
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2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
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,
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
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2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
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2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
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, - class="sortbottom"
! colspan=3, Career
Matt Suckling's player profile at AFL Tables
/ref>
! 178 !! 85 !! 90 !! 2379 !! 1199 !! 3578 !! 928 !! 292 !! 0.5 !! 0.5 !! 13.4 !! 6.7 !! 20.1 !! 5.2 !! 1.6 !! 12
Notes
Honours and achievements
Team
*2× AFL premiership player (): 2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
, 2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
*2× Minor premiership (): 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 ...
, 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 ...
Individual
* Australia international rules football team
:''This article concerns the men's team; for information on the Australian women's team, see Australia women's international rules football team.''
The Australia international rules football team is Australia's senior representative team in Inte ...
: 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 ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suckling, Matt
1988 births
Living people
Australian rules footballers from New South Wales
Hawthorn Football Club players
Hawthorn Football Club Premiership players
Western Bulldogs players
Box Hill Football Club players
Sportspeople from Wagga Wagga
Australia international rules football team players
Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players