Matt Connell

[KUNG FU]

I saw Matty Liptak at Glenelg Oval the other day. I find it funny that he won a Club Champion (good player, but he ain't no Goodwin). Admittedly his career was marred by injury and probably never developed to his full potential.

This led me to think about another contender for Worst Club Champion. Matt "Who?" Connell. Played three games for the Eagles in 1993. Didn't get a game in 1994. Somehow became club champion at the Crows the next year. He didn't play many games in the last two years of his career and was also marred by injury. He retired at age 28. I thought it might have been from injury, but he played the last half of 2000 fairly well (stats wise).

What happened to him? Delisted? Injured?

 

[jmorg1]

Delisted after copping the brunt of the blame by Blighty for our terrible 1999 season.

 

[KUNG FU]

Delisted after copping the brunt of the blame by Blighty for our terrible 1999 season.

But he played the last half of 2000.

 

[DaveW]

This led me to think about another contender for Worst Club Champion.

Well if you use the All Australian team as a guide, there are only four club champions who weren't good enough:

1991 - Mark Mickan
1995 - Matt Connell
1996 - Matthew Liptak
1997 - Andrew McLeod

And we can make an exception for 1997, since McLeod probably would have made a side picked at the end of September. (And I'd wager that Ricciuto would've lead the B+F count after 22 rounds.)

 

[The Crows Truth]

Well if you use the All Australian team as a guide, there are only four club champions who weren't good enough:

1991 - Mark Mickan
1995 - Matt Connell
1996 - Matthew Liptak
1997 - Andrew McLeod

And we can make an exception for 1997, since McLeod probably would have made a side picked at the end of September. (And I'd wager that Ricciuto would've leading the B+F count after 22 rounds.)

~~~~

 

[jmorg1]

But he played the last half of 2000.

Oh, sorry I can't remember the details but I'm pretty sure he was delisted.

 

[KUNG FU]

Well if you use the All Australian team as a guide, there are only four club champions who weren't good enough:

1991 - Mark Mickan
1995 - Matt Connell
1996 - Matthew Liptak
1997 - Andrew McLeod

And we can make an exception for 1997, since McLeod probably would have made a side picked at the end of September. (And I'd wager that Ricciuto would've lead the B+F count after 22 rounds.)

Good call

 

[KUNG FU]

Oh, sorry I can't remember the details but I'm pretty sure he was delisted.

I wonder how many CCs have been delisted. Mick Martyn would be one I think. But he was drafted again. And he was decades older than Connell at the time.

 

[RogerRabbit69]

Don't remember the exact details .... but I read a story about Connell in the paper a year or so ago. From memory, he's coaching some footy team in the UK (or at least he was at that stage). My recollections of him are he got 10/10 for effort and about 2/10 for execution.

 

[rayven]

And we can make an exception for 1997, since McLeod probably would have made a side picked at the end of September. (And I'd wager that Ricciuto would've lead the B+F count after 22 rounds.)

Well when Ricciuto was injured in 97 he was that far in front of the B+f it wasnt funny, I rekon it was the Geelong final that Mcleod over took him and D Jarman the next game.

Mcleod was the best Small defender that year and I see no legit reason he should not of got AA.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

I saw Matty Liptak at Glenelg Oval the other day. I find it funny that he won a Club Champion (good player, but he ain't no Goodwin). Admittedly his career was marred by injury and probably never developed to his full potential.

This led me to think about another contender for Worst Club Champion. Matt "Who?" Connell. Played three games for the Eagles in 1993. Didn't get a game in 1994. Somehow became club champion at the Crows the next year. He didn't play many games in the last two years of his career and was also marred by injury. He retired at age 28. I thought it might have been from injury, but he played the last half of 2000 fairly well (stats wise).

What happened to him? Delisted? Injured?

Sorry, best rover the club has ever had...yes injury ruined his career but under developed NO

Great player

 

[rayven]

This led me to think about another contender for Worst Club Champion. Matt "Who?" Connell. Played three games for the Eagles in 1993. Didn't get a game in 1994. Somehow became club champion at the Crows the next year. He didn't play many games in the last two years of his career and was also marred by injury. He retired at age 28. I thought it might have been from injury, but he played the last half of 2000 fairly well (stats wise).

At the eagles they had a number of hard nose players of his size,or pure class like Kemp there simply was not the oppotunities for him,After all their list in them days was the best going around.
To me Connell appreciated his oppotunity and he worked really hard to create space and we generally honoured him,in them days I didnt know about work when the other mob has the ball but when we had it he run his guts out.Maybe a coaches pet?It was Shaws first year and most others had seen the cornes/senior players dramas
He had a similar temprement to Modra,just wanted to play footy and nothing else and that perhaps was why West Coast didnt play him more as they liked abit of crash n bash in there players.

 

[ICanDressMyself]

Go Trent Ormand-Allen!

 

[Crow-mo]

Sorry, best rover the club has ever had...yes injury ruined his career but under developed NO

Great player

better rover than McGuiness?

sorry, no.

 

[macca23]

This led me to think about another contender for Worst Club Champion. Matt "Who?" Connell. Played three games for the Eagles in 1993. Didn't get a game in 1994. Somehow became club champion at the Crows the next year. He didn't play many games in the last two years of his career and was also marred by injury. He retired at age 28. I thought it might have been from injury, but he played the last half of 2000 fairly well (stats wise).

What happened to him? Delisted? Injured?

A bit of a sad story was Matty Connell.

Came from West Coast as you said and was a terrific ball getter in the early years. He averaged 23 disposals in that B&F year and 18 disposals over his 99 game career.

He usually hung on to the ball too long and always looked like he was struggling for a target as a result with all leads covered. But he did try his guts out IMO.

Blight took an absolute set against him, and his treatment of Connell as a human being was abysmal IMO - nothing short of disgraceful. If just 1% of what I've been told my a number of people from within the club is true, then Blight gets very little respect from me in spite of our 2 flags.

Connell left Adelaide as an absolutely mentally shattered man according to people who were close to him after the alleged constant humiliations he received in front of his peers.

Sad really, because all he wanted to do was play footy.

 

[- PC -]

over his 99 game career.
.

I hope he doesnt have any sons

 

[Allefgib]

Blight took an absolute set against him, and his treatment of Connell as a human being was abysmal IMO - nothing short of disgraceful. If just 1% of what I've been told my a number of people from within the club is true, then Blight gets very little respect from me in spite of our 2 flags.

Connell left Adelaide as an absolutely mentally shattered man according to people who were close to him after the alleged constant humiliations he received in front of his peers.

Sad really, because all he wanted to do was play footy.

care to shed any details on that macca?

 

[Crow-mo]

A bit of a sad story was Matty Connell.

Came from West Coast as you said and was a terrific ball getter in the early years. He averaged 23 disposals in that B&F year and 18 disposals over his 99 game career.

He usually hung on to the ball too long and always looked like he was struggling for a target as a result with all leads covered. But he did try his guts out IMO.

Blight took an absolute set against him, and his treatment of Connell as a human being was abysmal IMO - nothing short of disgraceful. If just 1% of what I've been told my a number of people from within the club is true, then Blight gets very little respect from me in spite of our 2 flags.

Connell left Adelaide as an absolutely mentally shattered man according to people who were close to him after the alleged constant humiliations he received in front of his peers.

Sad really, because all he wanted to do was play footy.

Blight certainly burnt a few people a Geelong as well.

 

[KUNG FU]

I don't think too many people would dispute that Blight has a cut throat approach to coaching. Definitely burnt a few in his brief stint at the Saints. Enough to make them revert to GT hahaha

I wouldn't be surprised if a Connell type got burnt by Blight at all. I think he had some good individual skills (hard ball gets etc), but had a problem fitting into the Crows structure. From memory he always looked lost and rarely stamped his impression on the game. My impression of him doesn't stray to far from Shirley or Doughty. Gets a fair bit of the ball, but never broke games open or anything. Lacked a McLeod sort of dynamism.

 

[Jars458]

Well when Ricciuto was injured in 97 he was that far in front of the B+f it wasnt funny, I rekon it was the Geelong final that Mcleod over took him and D Jarman the next game.

Mcleod was the best Small defender that year and I see no legit reason he should not of got AA.

Adam Hueskes got his spot. Absolute travesty. McLeod was hardly beaten in a contest that year never mind in a game.

 

[CrowMagnum]

I don't think too many people would dispute that Blight has a cut throat approach to coaching. Definitely burnt a few in his brief stint at the Saints. Enough to make them revert to GT hahaha

I wouldn't be surprised if a Connell type got burnt by Blight at all. I think he had some good individual skills (hard ball gets etc), but had a problem fitting into the Crows structure. From memory he always looked lost and rarely stamped his impression on the game. My impression of him doesn't stray to far from Shirley or Doughty. Gets a fair bit of the ball, but never broke games open or anything. Lacked a McLeod sort of dynamism.

He had a mountain of possessions purely because he played completely unaccountable football. He'd just wander around the wing all day calling for the ball while his man was setting up goals for the opposition. It was like junior grade football "What number opponent are you on Matty?" "Err...I don't remember Malcolm"

And whenever he got the ball he'd immediately an invariably go backwards and do a Queen Mary turn that even Skippy would be embarrassed about before burning the ball.

The fact that he got B&F just shows what a crappy year it was.

 

[macca23]

care to shed any details on that macca?

I'd rather not elaborate on the details of individual incidents, but in summary it would be fair to say that he constantly humiliated and degraded Connell in front of his peers.

Crow Magnum's comments re Connell's style of play are near the mark, but Craig would never have handled it the way that Blight did, and no rational person should. Craig would have learnt a lesson from Blight in this instance of what not to do. A quiet word in his ear in private and just plain dropping him would have been far better than abusing him publicly and accusing him of costing his team-mates the game etc.

Connell ended up very scarred as a person which was totally unnecessary IMO.

 

[KUNG FU]

He had a mountain of possessions purely because he played completely unaccountable football. He'd just wander around the wing all day calling for the ball while his man was setting up goals for the opposition. It was like junior grade football "What number opponent are you on Matty?" "Err...I don't remember Malcolm"

And whenever he got the ball he'd immediately an invariably go backwards and do a Queen Mary turn that even Skippy would be embarrassed about before burning the ball.

The fact that he got B&F just shows what a crappy year it was.

Well put! I was only 11 at the time. Can't remember him that well.

 

[Leaping Lindner]

He had a mountain of possessions purely because he played completely unaccountable football. He'd just wander around the wing all day calling for the ball while his man was setting up goals for the opposition. It was like junior grade football "What number opponent are you on Matty?" "Err...I don't remember Malcolm"

And whenever he got the ball he'd immediately an invariably go backwards and do a Queen Mary turn that even Skippy would be embarrassed about before burning the ball.

The fact that he got B&F just shows what a crappy year it was.

At the game at Waverley in 1995 against Saint Kilda even the Saints' supporters were yelling out at Connell "Get a hard ball" and "Learn to kick properly" amongst other things.

 

[Jars458]

He had a mountain of possessions purely because he played completely unaccountable football. He'd just wander around the wing all day calling for the ball while his man was setting up goals for the opposition. It was like junior grade football "What number opponent are you on Matty?" "Err...I don't remember Malcolm"

And whenever he got the ball he'd immediately an invariably go backwards and do a Queen Mary turn that even Skippy would be embarrassed about before burning the ball.

The fact that he got B&F just shows what a crappy year it was.

That is not true of his entire career for us.

He often played tagging roles under Shaw very well.

He had an excellent year when he won the Best and Fairest

A dual premeirship player and one whom I remember fondly.