Past Leigh Matthews - Coach (1999-2008)

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Re: Leigh Matthews

Leigh

"Browny is probably one of the half a dozen players I've coached that I regard as a friend," he said. "It's really disappointing and you can't seem to nip the rumour mill in the bud unfortunately.
"I guess we know the truth but unfortunately the truth is not always what gets reported."

 

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Re: Leigh Matthews

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Leigh Matthews talks about life after the Lions
Article from:

By Damien Stannard
September 07, 2008 12:00am

As the dust settled on his shock resignation, former Lions coach Leigh Matthews spoke to Damien Stannard about his next move:

You look like a man at peace. Are you happy with your decision?
I'm not thinking the decision's the wrong thing. But when you have a massive change of direction there's also a dislocation of what you normally do.That's a human reaction. It's only four days later but I still feel the same way.

Was your decision a resignation or a retirement?
Resignation. I've resigned from coaching the Brisbane Lions. I'm not retiring from life.

What do you want to do?
That's all a work in progress. What I want to do is explore the whole concept of team building - of individuals working effectively and cohesively in groups. It's something I've been able to do just in presentation format with the odd organisation. Now that I've got the time, I would like to pursue that. I've spoken to a couple of people already, even in the last day or two, about this concept. It's something that's been in the back of my mind for the last couple of years. If I wasn't coaching, this is something I'd like to explore.

In the sport or corporate world?
Whether it's sports teams or whether it's business teams, it's about groups of people trying to work effectively together. In a management sense, my job title was coach. But all you are is a manager of your group within a football department. You interact with other groups in your football club. The winning and losing in the football environment is a more stark black and white but the other principles are all the same.

Would you like to coach again?
Not as of today.

Have you had any offers?
No.

Jeff Kennett hasn't been on the blower?
The Hawthorn people have been on the blower to wish me well. Hawthorn's going well. Because Hawthorn was the team that I played for ... I'm more aligned to Hawthorn than, say, Collingwood or eventually I'll be to the Brisbane Lions. Players are the people that tend to be aligned to football clubs. The off-field people have a role but once they're gone, people can't remember seeing them do anything. Hawthorn's the club that I played for therefore they're the club that still wants to have that involvement as an ex-player.

Was there anything in those rumours about your fractured relationship with Jonathan Brown?
That was always enormously disturbing because sometimes you think where there's smoke there's fire. I didn't sense any friction in our relationship, or any of our senior players for that matter. But I kept reading about it. I asked the question and they said: there's no friction. We're not going to have the same opinion on every issue, that's ridiculous to even think that. That's different to having feuds and friction. That seemed to be a line that was pushed by a handful. I know who they are. Two or three people in the football industry that tend to earn their living by so-called breaking rumours. They did it for their ends. But I know there was no issue factually.

Is there one thing that you've achieved in Brisbane that you're most proud of?
The thing I'm most proud of is the relationships we've formed within all sections of the club. We've been a very united football club. It's always easier when your team's playing well but when the team's not playing so well there's been great unity within our organisation. I hope, as senior coach, I've been able to play some role in that.

Is there anything you'd have handled differently?
There's a million bits and pieces but in the sands of time, if you win two out of every three games you're doing OK. You make a lot of decisions and look back and say: that was a good decision or wasn't such a good decision. That's inevitable.

Was there a moment or a result that prompted your decision?
No. It was more my longevity. I've never counted myself as a career coach. I just happened to have coached for 20 years. When we had this premiership era, no matter how long it lasts, you know you'll never win 10 in a row. It was important for me that inevitably we might be a little bit worse at the middle of the 2000s than the beginning of the 2000s. It was important to manage the club for its next premiership phase. This year was my 10th year (at Brisbane). I didn't think I'd be coaching 20 or 15. It's in your mind, therefore, what will stimulate you stopping. That was weighing on my mind a little bit over the last 12 months. I guess it's why I initiated the thought, when it looked like Vossy might coach the Gold Coast, I said to the club: if you're thinking Vossy might be our next coach you might lose him for four or five years. It was on my mind enough that when we went into Round 22, it was like: are you in or out.

Did that make the Sydney game an emotional one to coach?
Maybe a fraction melancholic. It wasn't a knockout game, we did what often happens in a Round 22 game. We were competitive early, didn't get much joy on the scoreboard then when the opposition got clear we lost energy. There was a bit of melancholy because I knew - I hadn't told anyone at that point so I could change my mind - it was going to be my last.

Who were your confidantes?
There was no one I needed to talk to. I had my wife Deb. She knew I'd been asking these questions for a while. That aside, it's a personal thing. You've got to weigh it up and decide what's right for you. It wasn't a decision anyone else could make.

What did Deb say?
She's enjoyed the involvement too. This is our life. The thing with a football club is it's not only your professional life, it's your whole life. Our life's going to change significantly. We're all scared of change and we're all scared of what is going to happen after change. Deb is logically thinking how's life going to change without me coaching the Lions.

What did you see in Michael Voss that made you initiate the succession plan?
Let's be clear. Michael's an outstanding person but I didn't endorse Michael as coach. What I said to the club is, I believe Michael's an outstanding person, I know how well he's regarded by this footy club so therefore it's logical that after me they might want Michael to be coach. I wasn't cheeky enough to endorse (him). That's not right. I just opened up the door for that to be considered.

What are the qualities that might make him succeed?
I think he's smart, he's tough and he understands team. He understands how individuals in groups have to melt together for the team. He's got all those characteristics that should make someone succeed as coach. The greatest training to be a successful coach is to be a successful captain.

Given what you've achieved with the side for the last two years, is Michael going to have a tough first year?
We've been working within a bulging salary cap. We're still working with the aftermath of backdating things to keep our premiership team together. That's still an issue for the club now. That means your re-contracting is a work in progress. What we've been the last couple of years is a team on the fringe of finals. We've shown all the hallmarks of an inexperienced, immature team. The last two things to happen for a really good team is you win away games and you play your season out strongly. The base is now developed - we've got about 12 players between 50 and 100 games. If they've got the wherewithal, I think the side is in a much better position now to grow. I wouldn't have said that a couple of years ago.

If you'd stayed, what would have changed?
You're always looking at things, constantly tinkering. But I don't think it's dignified to talk about those things when there's other people now that have to make those decisions.

What are some of the challenges ahead for the AFL?
The challenge is what they are trying to embark on, to make it truly national. It's a massive undertaking but it's a noble and wise strategic initiative.

Will you live in Brisbane or Melbourne?
Brisbane's home. We've lived here for 10 years so our life's in Brisbane.

You have grandchildren in Melbourne don't you?
I've got a daughter and two grandkids in Melbourne and a daughter and granddaughter in Canberra and I like to see them as much as I can. But I can't live in two places.

Can you think of a legacy you've left?
Not really.

What about something you'd like to be remembered for?
It doesn't matter what you'd like. You'll be remembered for whatever you're remembered for. One of my principles in life is never to talk too much about yourself: let other people judge you.

 

[Grimreepah]

Re: Leigh Matthews

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Lethal walked, that's a fact
Caroline Wilson
September 7, 2008

CONSPIRACY theories have abounded since Leigh Matthews was all-too-perfectly replaced as coach of the Brisbane Lions last week by his three-time premiership captain Michael Voss.
And despite the backdrop of the AFL finals, the fact that the Lions suddenly seem situated on the other side of the planet as far as September is concerned and have even been mildly upstaged in the past week by their new Gold Coast neighbour, observers continue to ask what really happened.
Was Lethal, the AFL legend, pushed? Was he the victim of a player revolt? Did Voss' decision to move west to learn more about coaching force the Lions' hand?
And why did Jonathan Brown announce his new deal only after the coach had announced his departure? Brown's role in the brief but intriguing saga was particularly controversial, given the reports that Collingwood believed it had secured the star forward on the eve of the round-22 Sydney-Brisbane clash.
Further, the theorists would have it, the timing was perfect, too, with the changeover falling on the eve of the finals, prompting most commentators to rightly lose interest in what really took place.
The fact is that none of the above is true. While it has been said that the Voss appointment was suspiciously — and almost disrespectfully, as far as Matthews was concerned — hasty, the truth is that the matter has been put to bed quickly and cleanly along with any lingering resentments.
While West Coast might beg to differ, even the Eagles would admit that an assistant coaching role is just that — an assistant. The position is often overpaid, sometimes overrated and if Voss was always going to take the job once Matthews retired, then West Coast would have been quite right to ask itself what it was doing investing so heavily in a teaching position.
Fact: Matthews was not pushed. If he had been, he would have been paid out of his contract that does not end until the close of the 2009 season. Instead, the premiership coach is walking away from the final year of his latest agreement.
Fact: Brown unofficially told the club on the eve of the round-21 game against Carlton that he would stay. If the Magpies believed he was theirs, they were deluded and we suspect that rumour came from Carlton, which had also made a play for the 26-year-old.
Fact: Voss was unofficially offered the job one week ago today, some 90 minutes after Matthews had clutched the forearm of his chairman Tony Kelly during the second quarter of the Brisbane reserves game at Coorparoo and told him he was giving the job away.
"Are you sure about that?" Kelly replied, not once but four or five times before accepting that Matthews was serious. The coach had already told his football manager, Graeme Allan, earlier in the game as Allan had launched into list talks for season 2009.
Matthews' bombshell went along these lines: "You're the first person I asked to come here and you're the first person I'm telling I'm leaving."
Once Matthews had convinced Kelly he was serious, the chairman sent a text message to Voss asking whether he was at home. By the time the final siren had sounded at Coorparoo, Kelly was sitting at Voss' house explaining the situation.
In his heart, and despite his promises to West Coast and the houses he had looked at and the schools he had chosen, Voss knew immediately that he wanted the job.
Voss might have procrastinated last year over the Carlton and Essendon jobs and struggled to come to grips with what he was being offered at the Gold Coast, but not this time. Come Tuesday at 9am, he was sitting in a meeting with his lawyer and Kelly doing the deal, a deal that was announced publicly that afternoon.
Voss has been unfairly criticised for the manner in which he conducted himself in between his first more-secret meeting with Kelly on the Sunday and Tuesday's announcement. Perhaps his biggest mistake was to agree to an interview with Channel Ten on the Monday night — an interview laced with hyperbole and non-answers that made him look silly.
In my view, he fell on his sword in an attempt to show respect to Matthews, while at the same time not abandoning his current employer. Something tells me Voss will not be so compromising as a coach. Something tells me the Lions will have one captain next year.
Matthews was right to walk away. The modern commentator who puts complicated statistics and youth and tactical speed-speak ahead of all those unknown quantities that make great coaches would have it that Matthews had lost touch with the modern game.
The truth was more simple. He had been there too long.
This was certainly backed up by the fact that players were critical of the coach. Matthews and his players had fallen out of love and 10 years is long enough in modern football relationship terms.
He should be commended for his strength of character in walking away from a career most are sacked from. Significantly, Kelly announced on Monday the former coach would be made a life member of the club, something Collingwood still hasn't done.
And Brisbane should be congratulated for having the courage of its convictions and the smarts to execute its decision speedily. The board unofficially decided earlier this season that Michael Voss was to be its next coach. It just happened a year earlier than expected.

 

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Re: Leigh Matthews

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New club urged: get Matthews
Karen Lyon
September 7, 2008

HAVING just walked away from the Brisbane Lions coaching position after a decade in the job, the push has started to get AFL legend Leigh Matthews involved in the fledging Gold Coast Football Club.
Yesterday, AFL national development manager David Matthews, who has overseen much of the club's development, said a role for Leigh Matthews should be on the agenda.
"I think that the Gold Coast, even in the last few days, is on the record as saying he is someone with the experience that might be able to provide, at the very least, some good advice about how they should go about setting up the club," David Matthews said. "… I am sure as the dust settles and the Gold Coast starts to think how they best go about the remainder of their board and the consultants and management positions they require, they will look far and wide.
"But (Leigh Matthews) is somebody who is a significant figure in Queensland football, probably the most significant, and he has done an understanding job."

 

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Re: Leigh Matthews

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Why we'll miss Wayne Bennett and Leigh Matthews
Article from:

By Mike Colman
September 07, 2008 12:03am

MUCH has been written about Wayne Bennett and Leigh Matthews but it won't be until next year that people will realise just what they are missing. That old saying "love 'em or hate 'em" has never been more apt.

What Bennett and Matthews brought to Brisbane wasn't about personal likes or dislikes. It was about relevance, about making a noise. About playing with the big boys - and driving them crazy.

Bennett and Matthews were both good coaches. You only have to look at the record books for confirmation. Nine, depending how the Broncos finish up this season, maybe even 10, premierships between them from a combined 31 years coaching in Brisbane.

And that's just for the Broncos and Lions.
They both had premiership success before they took on the teams that became Queensland's best known footy sides.

But there was a lot more to Bennett and Matthews than win-loss ratios. What they brought to Brisbane was something that can't be measured in a statistics column.

They both had an aura, a presence, that was streets ahead of anything any other coach in either game could bring to the table.

Sure, the AFL had Kevin Sheedy and rugby league had Jack Gibson, but the fact that Bennett and Matthews were operating in what the rest of the country saw as a sporting backwater magnified their influence a hundred fold.

They were very different characters, but in many ways very similar.

Matthews was one of the greatest footballers ever to play his code. I remember interviewing him once in front of a spellbound crowd of rugby union supporters. I said to him, "Leigh, you were voted the greatest player ever to play the game. When you were a little kid, about to play your first game, what was your dream?"

"To be the greatest player ever to play the game," he said.

He was respected and feared in equal measure. He led Collingwood to a premiership after decades in the wilderness and was on top of every club's coaching wish list long before he arrived at the Gabba.

Bennett was more your solid workhorse. An honest toiler who got a green and gold jersey through effort rather than natural ability.

Bennett was someone who worked hard for everything that came his way - the type they say makes the best coach. Bennett also had another thing that set him apart. He was idiosyncratic, unlike anyone you'd ever met before. He loved his players like they were his favourite sons, and distrusted the media like they were his worst enemies.

All of which made the media even more interested in him. When Benny had something he wanted to say, reporters fell over themselves to give it a run.

Matthews was different. Charming, arresting, with piercing eyes that sat somewhere between laughter and impending violence, he sweet-talked the media, made them feel honoured just to be in his presence.

Either way it was the same result. When Lethal had something to say, reporters fell over themselves to give it a run.

And there they were, both of them. Here, in our town.

When it came to football coaches they were the biggest names in either game. The biggest in both games.

They promoted their games, they elevated their games, and they did the same for Brisbane.

For the years they were here the sports fans of Brisbane were blessed.

Giants walked amongst us, and it will never happen quite like it again.

 

[Grimreepah]

Re: Leigh Matthews

Bill McDonald

WILL MATTHEWS coach again at 56?
He can pretty much do whatever he likes, given his success and stature. Lethal could earn a million bucks a year just doing media again, with expert comments on Ten or Seven, a radio network, and newspaper gig combined with already lucrative corporate commitments.
Like Robert Walls and Malcolm Blight, he might just decide that it's easier potting a few blokes and analysing games than coaching.
Would he take on the Gold Coast job if offered? He's never going to repeat the 'frontier' success he's had with Brisbane, so unfortunately for the GC17, why would he?
Lethal will be in his 60s before they're competitive.
He could be tempted by a club looking to top up for a flag, which is why Hawthorn's Alastair Clarkson and St Kilda's Ross Lyon won't want to put a foot wrong.
Like many coach's I suspect they're feeling just a little uneasy knowing that one of the greats is on the open market again.

 

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Re: Leigh Matthews

Leigh presenting the Leigh Matthews Trophy to this year's winner Gary Ablett.

 

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Re: Leigh Matthews

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Lethal open to AFL offer
Article from:
Bruce Matthews
September 09, 2008 12:00am

LEIGH Matthews would listen to any proposal to join the AFL Commission to represent football in the northern states. Matthews said last night he would "consider it" if approached for the job.
"Being on the commission might mean you can't do certain things in and around the footy world. So that's the practical issue," the four-time premiership coach told On The Couch.
The Brisbane Lions indicated they would nominate Matthews for a seat on the commission.
Lions chairman Tony Kelly said Matthews, who stood down last week as coach after 10 years, was the ideal candidate.
"If Leigh was prepared to consider it, we'd back it to the hilt," Kelly said.
"The commission has always insisted it is an expertise-based board, and that location has nothing to do with it.
"If that is the case, who has more football expertise than Leigh Matthews?
"He would be a fantastic appointment and it is time Queensland, and New South Wales for that matter, had adequate representation."
Queensland has never had a representative on the AFL governing body.
Former Lions chairman and now GC17 director Graeme Downie's nomination was overlooked last year.
Matthews last night did not totally rule out coaching again. Asked if Brisbane was the end of his coaching days, he replied: "Probably, but probably is the right word. In three months time it might be different.
"But I didn't leave the Lions job to think I'm going to take another job."
The man who coached Collingwood to its last premiership in 1990 said the experience with Pies legend Tony Shaw was the main reason why Michael Voss was not offered a job when he retired at the end of the 2007 season.
Matthews said it was "a mistake" to appoint Shaw as his successor, because he had been on the Magpies coaching staff.
He said it was critical a player had a break from a club at the end of his playing days.
"So he (Voss) has had a gap. Having (assistant coach) experience at another club is preferable, but not essential," Matthews said.

 

[Grimreepah]

Re: Leigh Matthews

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There were minor misgivings about Matthews. Younger players grumbled that he could walk past them in the club's foyer without a hint of acknowledgment. Training, others said, was often repetitious and uninspiring.
His laissez faire methods didn't necessarily satisfy those hungry for information. And some saw too few concessions to the tactical complexities of the game in 2008, captain Jonathan Brown being among them.
Premiership full-back Mal Michael told The Australian in 2005, after five seasons as a Lion, that other than match day exchanges he had never held a conversation with the coach.
It is understood that in early August a group of younger players went to their senior colleagues to be heard and that some of what was said was conveyed to Matthews and Kelly.
And yet, as the players drank to the end of their fourth successive season out of the finals in Sydney last Saturday night, Matthews had already secretly decided to take his leave. There was no suggestion of push coming to shove, of a player-led insurgency.
Brown had agreed to re-sign with Brisbane, for instance, almost two weeks before Matthews called him and several other senior players to break his news to them last Sunday. He had done so the day before. Simon Black had also recommitted in the expectation that Matthews would be coach next year.
"Leigh Matthews is a very good friend of mine," Brown said this week, a declaration supported by the wedding invitation that was extended to Matthews almost a month ago.
"It's exciting to be starting out on a new journey but it's a little sad as well," said another player this week.
"I reckon, if you had to boil it all down, it was time. That's all. It was just time."
An expression Matthews himself chose to use at last Monday's press conference.

 

[Grimreepah]

Re: Leigh Matthews

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IT DID not take Leigh Matthews long to move on with his life.Just four days after stunning the AFL world with his decision to resign from Brisbane, the four-time premiership coach took on special comments man for Channel 7's broadcast of the qualifying final between Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs.
Matthews has signed on with Channel 7 for the finals series and, as always, was the ultimate pro and proved popular with viewers.

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Matthews busts the TV `pack'
September 13th, 2008
BILL'S RULES by Bill McDonald

HOW MANY commentators does it take to call an AFL final?
Six, according to Channel 7.
Retired Lions coach Leigh Matthews was a welcome addition last week and formed a great combination with former Magpie captain Nathan Buckley for Friday's Hawks-Bulldogs game.
Dennis Cometti and Bruce McAvaney were smooth as always but Tim Watson and boundary riders Ricky Oharenshaw and David Schwarz seemed redundant. Management may have agreed, bumping Watson out of the box and on to a soggy MCG boundary for Sunday's Geelong-St Kilda game.
Having kept company with Bruce and Dennis all season, the Essendon great apparently has his nose out of joint at being bumped.

 

[Lehmo87]

Re: Leigh Matthews

Hasn't Lethal done commentary work in recent years for channel 7?

 

[dlanod]

Re: Leigh Matthews

Hasn't Lethal done commentary work in recent years for channel 7?

Yeah, that's what I thought. They get him in for the finals series, when we don't make it.

 

[Grimreepah]

Re: Leigh Matthews

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Mark Thompson says he is unlikely to coach any other club, saying he admires the way Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews recently departed.

 

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Re: Leigh Matthews

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Leigh Matthews heads Norm Smith Medal panel

10:01 AM Fri 26 September, 2008

RETIRED Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews has been named chairman of the panel to award the Norm Smith Medal for the best player in Saturday's Toyota AFL Grand Final.

He will be joined by Luke Darcy (SEN 1116), Gilbert McAdam (NIRS), Emma Quayle (The Age), Brian Taylor (Triple M) and Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams.

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said he had included Williams and Matthews on the judging panel to provide a current-day coaching perspective in the voting alongside the views of retired players and senior media staff.

The Norm Smith Medal is still presented after the match on Saturday even if the game is a draw and a replay is to be played next week.

The medal can't be shared between two players. In the event of a tie, the tie is broken as follows:

- Number of three votes received
- Number of two votes received
- Number of one votes received
- If still unbroken, votes cast by the chairman will break the tie.

 

[Grimreepah]

Re: Leigh Matthews

Brisbane Lions Club awards at the Convention Centre. Retiring Lions coach is given a life membership to the Brisbane Lions.

LION for life . . . Leigh Matthews was made a Lions' life member at the presentation ball where Jonathan Brown, inset was named best and fairest.

 

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Re: Leigh Matthews

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Lion Lethal hands over to next leader of pack

By Simon White
9:57 PM Sun 05 October, 2008

THROUGHOUT his 10 years as Brisbane Lions coach, football followers became used to Leigh Matthews speaking with authority about matters of considerable gravity.

The Courier-Mail sports editor Brian Burke summed it up when he told the crowd at Saturday night’s Club Champion dinner that Matthews’ Monday press conferences were often regarded as “agenda-setters” for the league.

But in accepting his Lions life membership and officially signing off from the club he coached to three premierships, Matthews showed a side of himself perhaps lesser known to the general public – his sense of humour.

For starters, he joked that he was happy to become a life member because it guaranteed him entry to finals games.

And he followed up by lightheartedly comparing Michael Voss’s ascension to the senior coaching role with the succession characteristics of real-life Lions.

“Long before I coached the Brisbane Lions I had a fascination with African wildlife. The Lions’ pride is an interesting group of animals,” Matthews said.

“There is a dominant male who leads the pride for a short amount of time, before another dominant male, who is stronger and fitter, takes over.

“When that happens the new dominant male tends to kill the cubs of the previous dominant male, so those bloodlines don’t grow up and become a threat in future years.

“Lucky we’re not actually Lions or some of you players might be in trouble. Another thing that happens is that when the lead male is replaced, he kind of moves off into the sunset and has to live off his own and probably dies. Again, I’m happy I’m not a Lion.”

On a more serious note, Matthews gave his nod of approval to the new era the Lions are entering, as well as reflecting on some of the traits that had made the club so successful in the last decade.

In Matthews’ 237 games in charge, the Lions won 142 matches en route to six finals appearances, four grand finals and three premierships.

“The club’s mission statement is to be the most successful and respected sporting club in Australia,” Matthews said.

“The success on the field in the football team point of view is a statistical fact. But the respect we’ve engendered is something enormously proud of, something we should all be enormously proud of.

“The number of people who tell me that in their dealings with Brisbane Lions players how courteous and respectful (those players) are – that’s why they were a great team for so long. They have been a magnificent group to coach.

“Going forward, football clubs are always balancing between stability and rejuvenation. The only way you can really have a big rejuvenation, a big change and a big freshen-up is to have a new senior coach.

“That is what this club is going towards, rightly so and hopefully that rejuvenation process will launch another successful era.”

Like his fellow retiree from Saturday night, Nigel Lappin, Matthews took the opportunity to express his gratitude to a wide variety of people associated with the Lions.

He reserved special thanks for his wife Debbie and family, giving an insight into the life of an AFL coach in the process.

“Coaching is much more of an emotional rollercoaster for me than playing ever was,” Matthews said.

“I’ve coached more than 400 games and won maybe 250 of them or so. With the 250 you win, there is a sense of relief and a slight sense of satisfaction, but ultimately players win football games.

“When you lose, you go to a very dark place. Deb and her kids have had to see that very dark place I go to for 24 hours. When you coach you feel the loss much more than I ever did as a player.”

 

[Grimreepah]

Re: Leigh Matthews

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Lethal among Qld's magnificent seven
October 30, 2008 - 11:03PM

Hawthorn great and four-time AFL premiership-winning coach Leigh Matthews has been named one of Queensland's seven footballing 'legends'.
The recently-departed Brisbane Lions mentor was included alongside homegrown sons Jason Dunstall and Michael Voss in AFL Queensland's honorary list.
The AFLQ unveiled the magnificent seven at the Gabba as it launched the Queensland Australian Football Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame honours 150 players, coaches, umpires, administrators, teams and events in the game's 150th year.
Matthews, voted the player of the 20th Century, was recognised for elevating the standing of the code in the state by guiding the Lions to a premiership three-peat from 2001-03.

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A Legend in the AFL Hall of Fame and a member of the AFL Team of the Century, he played a pivotal role in the development of Australian Football in Queensland during a golden 10-year reign Brisbane Lions coach from 1999-2008. Voted ‘Player of the Century’ in 1999, he played 332 games and kicked 915 goals for Hawthorn from 1969-85, including 29 finals.

A member of the Hawthorn Team of the Century, he was club captain from 1981-85, played in four premierships in 1971-76-78-83, plus three losing grand finals in 1975-84-85. Also won eight Hawthorn Best & Fairest awards in 1971-72-74-76-77-78-80-82,and was the club’s leading goal-kicker six times in 1973-75-81-82-83-84. Won the AFL Coleman Medal in 1975, and six times finished top 10 in the Brownlow Medal.

Coached Collingwood from 1986-1995, shedding the dreaded ‘Colliewobbles’ when he guided the club to the 1990 premiership. After three years in the media he headed north to take charge of the Lions after they’d collected the 1998 wooden-spoon, masterminding the historic premiership hat-trick of 2001-02-03.

Became just the second person in AFL history alongside Ron Barassi to enjoy premiership success with three different clubs when in 2001 the Lions became the first club from a ‘non-traditional football state’ to win the flag. A former Victorian captain, he was Victorian State of Origin coach in 1997-98, was All- Australian coach to Ireland in 1998 and was ‘Coach of the Year’ at the Queensland Sport Awards in 1999, 2001 and 2002.

 

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Re: Leigh Matthews

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Matthews to be a Magpie lifer
Jake Niall
November 14, 2008

MORE than 18 years after he coached the Magpies to their drought-breaking 1990 premiership, AFL legend Leigh Matthews will finally be made a Collingwood life member. Matthews, who coached Collingwood for 10 years — a period that normally guarantees life membership for a player or paid official — was barred from receiving life membership by the Magpies during the 10 years he spent coaching the Brisbane Lions.
Matthews was not granted life membership, despite his stature as a long-serving coach who led the Magpies to what still stands as their only premiership since 1958, because of a club policy against giving life membership to a player or coach who is "actively involved" at a rival club.
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, who is away with the team on its Arizona training camp, had made it clear that Matthews would be given life membership once he was no longer coaching "against" the Magpies; thus, Matthews' resignation from the Lions has opened the way for him to receive life membership 18 years after the historic 1990 flag and 13 after he finished coaching the club.
Former Collingwood president Kevin Rose, who chairs a panel of past players who make recommendations on life membership, said he and McGuire had agreed that Matthews must be made a life member a matter of days after he stood down as coach of the Lions.
Rose said when he contacted McGuire, the president said: "I know what you're ringing me about … Leigh Matthews. We're on the same wavelength."
Whereas Collingwood waited for 13 years to hand Matthews life membership, the Lions made him a life member immediately after he stood down after a 10-year stint that yielded three consecutive premierships from four grand final appearances.
Matthews will be a life member of three clubs — Hawthorn, the Lions and Collingwood. He missed out on Magpie life membership between 1996 and 1998, even though he wasn't involved at club level at the time.

 

[dlanod]

Re: Leigh Matthews

Now we know the real reason he retired!

On a somewhat related note, anyone been a life member of three clubs before?

 

[Grimreepah]

Re: Leigh Matthews - Coach

Link

Leigh Matthews was sighted at Lions training last Monday. The game's player of the 20th century has only had a handful of seasons without direct involvement in football since he was in primary school, but there he was at his old club's Coorparoo training ground, surveying training alongside his former right-hand man Graeme "Gubby" Allen.
"You are one metre from the white line – BE READY," advises a sign placed near the boundary line around which Matthews saunters with fewer cares than the last pre-season.
Matthews' interest in his old team and how they perform is what separates the obsessed from the merely committed.

 

[Lehmo87]

Re: Leigh Matthews - Coach

Good to hear Lethal still shows a lot of interest in the team.

Love the last line of that article too.

 

[Lehmo87]

Re: Leigh Matthews - Coach

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/sport/afl/lions-legend-helps-cubs/1439256.aspx

Pumping up Auskick players is as close as Leigh Matthews wants to get to AFL coaching in the next few years.

The four-time AFL premiership-winning coach will video call Auskick participants in a special booth at the Sydney Swans' superclinic in Canberra on Sunday.
It's designed to give the future stars a sense of a half-time speech from an AFL coach.
Matthews quit the Brisbane Lions' coaching post last year despite having one season left on his contract, stating it was time to leave. He doesn't expect to be back quickly.
''Right at the moment I need a break,'' Matthews said. ''And I'm expecting that break to be permanent.''
Matthews didn't completely rule out a return, but said it was unlikely.
''Right now, I don't want to coach again, but maybe in six months that might change, I'm not sure how I'll feel in the future,'' he said.
For now the AFL legend will swap the coach's box for the commentator's one and start a TV career.
Matthews won eight premierships, four as a player and four as a coach. In his playing career at Hawthorn he also won eight best and fairests, was their leading goalkicker for six years and named rover in the Hawks' team of the century.
He coached Collingwood to a premiership in 1990 and the Lions to three consecutive titles in 2001-03. But Matthews said he wouldn't have any bias this year.
''It was very strange watching the Lions play on TV last weekend, it's quite a distinct stop from being involved in a club to not being involved,'' Matthews said. ''But I'll just enjoy going to the football and watching this year. I think I'll always be remembered more as a Hawthorn player, but I have fond memories of all clubs without being heavy emotionally involved with any of them anymore.''

 

[Hollow Knight]

Re: Leigh Matthews - Coach

Link

A Gabba homecoming

Leigh Matthews
AFL.com.au
7:06 AM Wed 15 April, 2009


I HAVE watched many games at the Gabba over the years but it has been over a decade since the location was the television commentary box.

It is quite bizarre watching a team you have coached the previous season in the early part of the following year. All the strange emotions that existed in early 1996 after finishing at Collingwood at the end of 1995 have suddenly re-emerged.

The involvement goes from total to nil in a matter of days. From being the centre of your existence you very quickly become just another external observer.

It is a bit like someone borrowing your house, embarking on a big renovation, and even adopting your kids.

Once the new coach is appointed the role that dominates your thoughts, and in fact your whole persona, ceases to exist.

It is amazing how history repeats itself.

At Collingwood I was fortunate to have Tony Shaw as a great player leader. Without him the 1990 premiership would likely not have eventuated.

After that year’s second semi-final when we qualified for the grand final, I will always remember Shaw’s resolve.

With his sock red from a badly bleeding blister he got up in front of his team, looked them in the eye, and stated emphatically that he had played in two losing grand finals and he was not going to play in a third!

The determination in his voice set the tone for the premiership that followed a fortnight later.

It was no coincidence that Shawy won the Norm Smith medal.

In my latter years at the Magpies it was always apparent that he would be the next coach.

It was the same with Michael Voss. He too was a magnificent playing leader and providing he was available it was obvious that he would be my coaching successor.

When it looked likely that Vossy might take on the Gold Coast coaching job steps were taken to make sure that he knew of the club’s succession plans.

When 2008 finished and I decided that the time was right for the club to go forward under a new coach, Michael’s appointment was a fait accompli.

The ground work had already been done.

Coaching success is always difficult to predict with any certainty. What I would say is that no matter what Vossy gives the Lions during his coaching tenure, it will not exceed his massive contribution as a player.

I spent an uncomfortable night as a passive observer at the Lions round one game against the Eagles. This week I will be part of the Seven commentary team with the task of being as unbiased and even-handed as possible.

There will be one significant difference this Friday, I will be able to eat something on the afternoon of the game.

Game day nerves and a churning stomach prevented any possibility of eating anything after lunch during my coaching years.

Not much puts me off my food but while my coaching box colleagues had to put up with my dry retching at times they were at least spared the next step.

The rare Friday night game is a big deal for the Lions, when it is against Collingwood, the club’s marketing team does cart wheels and hand stands most of the week.

A big crowd and a big pay day are assured.

On the field the Brisbane Lions players seemed to relish these big Collingwood games and have a great record against the Magpies.

Both teams have shown good early season form but the Lions are fielding a very competitive team and against an under-manned opposition and at home, I think they will win.

 

[POBT]

Re: Leigh Matthews - Coach

Lethal, please don't draw comparisons between the coaching careers of Shaw and Voss. Just makes be a little nervous, that's all. Cheers.

 

[Tim the Toolman]

Re: Leigh Matthews - Coach

You talk to Leigh and he rates Shaw above Voss as the greatest leader he's ever had! That must be saying something about Shaw then?