Wally Matera (1989 - 1990)

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Pick 3 in the 1989 Pre-Season Draft (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_VFL_Draft)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7177/6887651863_b924df3a76.jpg

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Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Matera)

Wally Matera (born 9 September 1963) is a former Australian rules footballer of Indigenous and Italian heritage. He played with the West Coast Eagles and Fitzroy in the AFL and for South Fremantle in the WAFL. His brothers, Peter and Phillip Matera both followed in his footsteps and represented West Coast and his son Brandon is a current player with Gold Coast Football Club.

Matera arrived in South Fremantle from Wagin Federals, debuting in 1982 at the age of eighteen. Three years later he won their best and fairest and after another solid season he found himself in West Coast's squad for their debut season. He top scored for the Eagles in their first league game, kicking 4 goals. After a couple of seasons he moved to Victoria where he played with Fitzroy until the end of 1990.

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/6131/wallymatera.jpg

Height 170cm
Weight 64kgs

Career statistics (http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/players/W/Wally_Matera.html)

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West Coast's inaugural team (http://www.westcoasteagles.com.au/1987%20inaugural%20team/tabid/7285/default.aspx):

Backs: Dwayne Lamb Michael Brennan Paul Peos
Half-backs: Geoff Miles Ross Glendinning (c) Mark Zanotti
Centres: Phil Narkle Murray Wrensted Peter Davidson
Half-forwards: Dean Laidley Laurie Keene Don Holmes
Forwards: Steve Malaxos Darren Bennett Andrew Macnish
Ruck: Alex Ishchenko John Annear Wally Matera
Interchange: Chris Lewis Adrian Barich
Coach: Ron Alexander

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/7325/wallymatera3.jpg

Link (http://www.smh.com.au/news/AFL/Writing-off-Matera-is-a-tall-order/2005/06/17/1118869100136.html)

Wally Matera, the eldest of eight Matera siblings and himself a 56-game player for West Coast and Fitzroy.

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/8369/wallymatera4.jpg
Phil, Peter and Wally Matera

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http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9462/wallymatera2.jpg

Some brief vision of Matera in this clip:

cPVAwI9ejAg&feature=youtube_gdata

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Italian heritage: (http://www.italianteamofthecentury.com.au/player-detail-cms.php?playerId=118) Father Italian-born

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/7325/wallymatera3.jpg

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Matera pans father-son rule (http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/-/eagles/8897342/matera-pans-fatherson-rule/)
DALE MILLER
The West Australian
February 24, 2011, 6:58 am

The father of young Gold Coast star Brandon Matera says it's a shame his son could not have been snared by West Coast - the club synonymous with the family name.

Wally Matera, a member of the Eagles' inaugural 1987 squad who played 24 matches for West Coast before heading to Fitzroy, admitted he wished the league's father-son rule had allowed his old club to draft Brandon ahead of their rivals.

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'Ant' defies critics (http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/129375)
AFL Record 1987
Round 17, page 7

THERE'S really not much to Wally Matera . . . that is in size. But when it comes to football tenacity and determination, he's got loads of it. Weighing in at just 64 kilos (10.11), the 170 cm tall (5"7") rover does not have a lot going for him in the body stakes. But, his size, or lack of it, has never worried Matera who is from the small town of Wagin, in the Great Southern region south-east of Perth. In fact, his early football days at Wagin gave him the grounding to go to the top of the class — in the VFL as part of the West Coast Eagles. He made his senior debut with Wagin's Federals side aged 16 and in those tough country leagues you either survived or quit.

Matera survived, despite the critics who said that he was just too small to succeed in senior football. Even when he joined South Fremantle under the club's country zoning, he was not taken too seriously. "No one gave me much of a show of making it when I first joined South in
1982," says Matera.

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Eagles star was no Wally (http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/138404)
AFL Record 1997
Round 9, page 35

Wally was born at Katanning in WA and had played 79 games with South Fremantle before he made his West Coast debut. He was small but he could burrow and at South Fremantle was the club best and fairest in 1985 and second best in 1986.

Dean Laidley had this to say about his old teammate - "He was a good little player, cheeky, very quick and he always had a grin on his face. And, he has got a good right hook. I remember at the Eagles pre0season camp in 1987 our coach Ron Alexander paired off the players for friendly boxing matches. We were not supposed to hit above the shoulder. But Wally let go with a right and almost KO'd one of the players."