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Delisted Matt Eagles (2016-2020)

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Rookie Matthew Eagles, who won the second series of Foxtel's reality program The Recruit, was a rock in defence with 18 touches and used his 200cm frame to latch onto a match-high 11 marks, including an important intercept mark at the top of the square late in the game.
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McGovern-like performance could save Lion Recruit
THE BRISBANE Lions may have unearthed a Jeremy McGovern clone from the unlikeliest of places.

Almost 1400km away from McGovern's Adelaide Oval heroics on Saturday night, a 27-year-old defender without an AFL game to his name played a pivotal role in the Lions winning the NEAFL premiership.

Matt Eagles, a strongly built 200cm unit with long dreadlocks, joined the Lions as a category B rookie last year thanks to winning season two of Fox Footy's The Recruit. Foxtel subsidised his wage as part of the arrangement.

He was a longshot as recently as mid-season to remain beyond this year, but a purple patch of form, capped by a dominant NEAFL Grand Final performance, has given the Lions something to think about.

Eagles amassed 18 disposals (11 contested), 11 marks, 17 intercept possessions – the equal-most in any NEAFL match this season – and five rebound 50s in the three-point triumph at the SCG.

The ex-North Ballarat VFL footballer was particularly important in the final term, when he claimed four of his eight intercept marks, as Sydney sliced a 20-point three-quarter time deficit to one.

Eagles outmarked rookie-listed Swan Toby Pink at half-back in the contest's final play, and narrowly missed out on the Andrew Ireland Medal as best player afield to teammate Ben Keays.

He arrived at the Gabba as a ruckman who could pinch-hit forward, but has thrived in defence. He captained the Lions and featured in their best players in last week's NEAFL preliminary final victory, too.

Eagles' manager, Peter Blucher, of Vivid Sport Management, told AFL.com.au he was hopeful the Lions would "find a way for him to continue". "He'll admit it took him a little while to adjust to the step up in footy from where he's come from," Blucher said. "But he's come a long, long way and has worked incredibly hard and done a phenomenal job. He was not a bit-part player in the finals – he was a very important player. "He got an opportunity in an unusual way, but he's made the most of it. Given how far he's come in one year, I'd love to see where he gets to with another year and a full pre-season."

Eagles is a popular figure at the club and has fitted in well, in contrast to inaugural The Recruit winner Johann Wagner. Port Adelaide delisted Wagner last year after one season and he admitted in a Fairfax interview in May: "I probably never really felt I belonged."
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He was also a standout the week before at the Gabba, will not shirk a contest and gets into the forwards heads with his niggle.
Hope we keep him on.
 
At this stage he has shown more than Frost, at NEAFL level at least. Would be a cert for another year you would think.
 
Somewhat fitting Matty landed with us given a former Lion and JB's brother sparked his journey to the AFL.

Triple premiership forward Jonathan Brown's brother is responsible for igniting the fire under Brisbane Lions success story and former excavator operator Matt Eagles.

The Lions inserted legitimacy into Eagles' extraordinary AFL journey on Friday when they revealed they were retaining 2016's The Recruit winner on their rookie list for next year.

He will remain a category B rookie, but his advanced age – he turns 28 in February – suggests coach Chris Fagan believes he can make a senior impact next year, possibly alongside Harris Andrews.

Eagles was playing for Brisbane-based Yeronga, where he kicked 116 goals in 31 games, when clubmates Matt Brown and Tim Notting, the 208-game former Lion, asked him in no uncertain terms: "What the hell are you doing?"

The dreadlocked 200cm giant subsequently applied for the Fox Footy program, and the rest is history.

Eagles knew three days after his Jeremy McGovern-like NEAFL Grand Final performance, including a competition-high 17 intercept possessions and eight intercept marks, that his AFL story would continue.

"I came in as a ruckman and forward at the start, but I struggled a little bit with all the new structures and being in the (AFL) environment all the time," he told AFL Media.

"But they put me in the backline, which was new to me, and I just adapted to that quite quickly and started getting some form halfway through the season and really jelled with the boys.

"I've surprised myself and I like the direction the club's going. Getting another pre-season under my belt will help … I'll get together with Harris, spend some more time with him, and it will be good having Luke Hodge around."

The Recruit's first experiment, Johann Wagner, came and went in a flash in an uneasy experience on Port Adelaide's list last year, later admitting he never felt like he belonged.

Eagles looked like he might go down a similar path as the AFL's emphasis on complex structures and game-plans befuddled the ruckman-forward.

The Lions then transformed the ex-VFL and SANFL footballer into a key defender – something completely foreign to him – and the move began paying dividends midway through the NEAFL season.

Eagles, who grew up in Adelaide and worked in the mines, still looked an extreme longshot to survive, but a stellar NEAFL finals campaign made him a keeper – even with the club cutting 10 players.

"Coming from where I did is hard, because it's totally different. No one's been through it except Johann, so it was tricky to fit in early," he said.

"It seems kind of weird, but it's a bit like high school, and if you don't get around the boys, you're an outsider. But I've created a really good bond with them."

Lions football boss David Noble admitted they were not expecting Eagles to improve enough to demand a list spot, but said he had "earned his stripes".

"We believed when we got him we were getting a really good player in the NEAFL who would be great support for some of our younger guys," Noble told AFL Media.

"What has surprised us is his continued improvement … there's been a significant shift in all aspects from playing to body shape, so he has a chance to continue to develop and maybe play.

"It doesn't mean he'll play 22 AFL games next year, but he's certainly given himself a chance.
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Congratulations to Matty Eagles. Played really well in the ressies later in the year and it will be an amazing story when he plays his first games in 2018.
 

ROOKIE WATCH

The winner of The Recruit Matt Eagles has put together a solid start to the 2018 NEAFL season and was one of the best on ground last week against the Gold Coast SUNS. The defender had 21 possessions, 10 of which were marks. Eagles also had one inside 50 and two rebound 50s as well. In Round 1, Eagles had three inside 50s and another three marks, and last week took four marks and another inside 50. If Eagles continues his role as a dependable defender, he may yet get a call up to the senior side.
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Matt Eagles elevated to Primary List
Matt Eagles has today been elevated from the Brisbane Lions' Category B Rookie List to the Primary List and is now eligible for Senior selection.

An athletic key defender, Eagles has made a name for himself in the NEAFL for his work ethic and intercept abilities. He played a key role in the Lions' NEAFL premiership last year and was close to best on ground in the grand final. In the Lions' past two NEAFL matches Eagles has recorded 20 intercept possessions.

Eagles came to the Lions via Foxtel’s The Recruit show in late 2016. After struggling initially to adjust to the demands of professional football, the Yeronga junior is now one step closer to achieving his AFL dream.
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The Recruit winner Matt Eagles set to debut with Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions are set to showcase their own celebrity star with Matt Eagles, the winner of television program The Recruit, set to make his AFL debut against this weekend against Collingwood.

In one of the most remarkable journeys to an AFL dream, Eagles had previously worked in the mines, owned a landscaping business and did dredging work before joining the Lions.

The 28-year-old made an appearance on the Foxtel show as a Category B rookie, later placing first on The Recruit while playing for Yeronga South Brisbane in Division 1 of the QFA.

Lions coach Chris Fagan lauded the mature-aged debutant for his deserved shot in the top flight. “To your credit, you have worked so hard on your game, with your skills and also the way you’re willing to look after your body,” he said. “You’re an incredibly dedicated player at this club. “Welcome to AFL Footy at the ripe old age of 28.”

Eagles fell in love with the game as a teenager, appearing in th SANFL for the Port Adelaide Magpies and most recently for Yeronga as a forward with some involvement in the ruck.

“The journey has been a bit of a rollercoaster coming from a different pathway. Loved it and I’d like to take this time to thank everyone involved in the journey,” he said. “I’m just really proud to put the jumper on.”
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AFL debut a reality for Brisbane’s Matt Eagles
THEY say sport is the ultimate reality TV but Brisbane debutant Matt Eagles may beg to differ. His football journey already sounds like the script of a TV show – because it is. In the structured world of AFL football, his path to the Lions is so unusual it could only be true.

Two years ago Eagles was running a landscaping business and playing local footy when he decided to try his luck on season two of Foxtel’s reality TV footy show The Recruit. On Sunday he will make his AFL debut for the Lions against Collingwood at the Gabba.

The 28-year-old’s prize for winning the TV contest was a spot on the Lions rookie list and it’s fair to say he made an immediate impression on coach Chris Fagan, even if it may not have been the one he was hoping for.

“If you had been at the first training session he turned up to, which was my first training session with the Lions, the number of times he got falconed (ball hit him in the head) and missed kicks and missed handballs, I was thinking ‘this is going to test me out a little bit’,” Fagan said.

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“From that day forward he’s continued to improve in all elements – skill, game understanding, diet, fitness, the lot. “He’s come a long, long way. It’s a great story. “The dream has come true for him. It’s come true because he’s worked hard.’’

Eagles spent last year at the Lions playing in the NEAFL and was one of the best on ground in their grand final victory over Sydney. It was enough to earn him another contract and he’s taken his game to another level this year, which, according to Fagan, kicked the door to selection off its hinges. Eagles, who hails from Port Lincoln in South Australia, didn’t pick up a footy until he was a teenager.
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He spent his early 20s travelling the country, working the mines and playing local footy. Standing 200cm and tipping the scales at 99kg, he had the physique for senior footy, he just needed a little nudge in the right direction. That’s where The Recruit came in.

It wasn’t an academy or the TAC Cup, but the finish line was the same, even if his journey took about a decade longer than your standard draftee. “The journey has been a bit of a rollercoaster coming from a different pathway,“ Eagles said. “I’ve loved it and I’d like to take this time to thank everyone involved in the journey. “ I’m just really proud to put the jumper on.”
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Reality television recruit to make AFL debut
Brisbane Lions have confirmed former reality television show contestant Matt Eagles will make his AFL debut against Collingwood on Sunday. His stunning performance in the 2017 NEAFL grand final – where he amassed 17 intercept possessions and eight intercept marks – went a long way to earning the Adelaide-born former miner another contract in 2018.

He has started 2018 in similar form and Lions' coach Chris Fagan has rewarded those performances, which he said came off the back of hard work and plenty of improvement.

"I can remember you at our first training session because it was my first training session to," Fagan told Eagles in a video released on the club website. "And I lost count of how many times the ball went through your hands and hit you in the head and how you couldn't hit the side of a barn with your kicks ... and I'm thinking, 'Oh this is going to be a bit of a journey'.

"But to your credit you've worked so hard at your game both with your skills but also with the way you've learnt to look after your body. You're an incredible dedicated player at this club. "Welcome to AFL footy at the ripe old age of 28."

Eagles told his teammates he was honoured to become an AFL player. "Obviously the journey has been a roller-coaster, coming from a different pathway but I'd like to just take the time to thank everyone involved in the journey. "I'm just really proud to put the jumper on."

Eagles' rise to the AFL is the opposite of Johann Wagner, who became a rookie at Port Adelaide after winning the first series of The Recruit. Wagner was delisted after one season, not playing an AFL game, and later admitted he felt like an outsider at the Power.
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Extraordinary! Reality TV star named to make AFL debut
IN ONE of the most extraordinary stories this season, Matt Eagles, the winner of Foxtel’s reality TV program The Recruit, will make his AFL debut this weekend.

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The Recruit winner Matt Eagles will make his AFL debut this weekend.

The 28-year-old owned a landscaping business prior to trying his luck on The Recruit in 2016, winning the program and earning a spot on Brisbane’s list as a Category B rookie. A 200cm and 99kg ruckman, Eagles was 26 and playing for Yeronga South Brisbane in Division 1 of the QFA when he won the Recruit.

He enjoyed a promising 2017 season playing in the NEAFL, mixing roles both forward, back and in the ruck to earn himself a one-year contract extension late last year. He has since been playing behind the ball for Brisbane’s reserves side, with the club confirming he will make his AFL debut against Collingwood at the Gabba on Sunday evening.

“The journey has been a bit of a rollercoaster coming from a different pathway,” Eagles said. “I’ve loved it and I’d like to take this time to thank everyone involved in the journey. “I’m just really proud to put the jumper on.”
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From reality TV to AFL: 'Recruit' to debut
FROM reality television to the AFL, Matt Eagles will debut for Brisbane on Sunday. Eagles was named in the initial 26-man squad to play Collingwood at the Gabba, and on Friday was given the news he would debut. At 28 years of age, it's a remarkable story for the winner of season two of Foxtel's reality program 'The Recruit'.

Eagles spent 2017 at the Lions playing in the NEAFL, turning heads with an incredible Grand Final display against Sydney, which earned himself another contract. The dreadlocked defender has started 2018 in scintillating form and Fagan said it was just too hard to ignore. "The dream has come true for him. It's come true because he's worked hard," Fagan said.

Eagles, who stands 200cm and weighs 99kg, travelled to all parts of Australia through his 20s, working and playing football, ending up at Yeronga in Brisbane before trying his luck on The Recruit. After selecting him as a ruck/forward, Fagan said it was far from smooth sailing for Eagles.

"If you had have been at the first training session he turned up to, which was my first training session with the Lions, the number of times he got falconed and missed kicks and missed handballs, I was thinking 'this is going to test me out a little bit'. "From that day forward he's continued to improve in all elements; skill, game understanding, diet, fitness, the lot. "He's come a long, long way. It's a great story."

Fagan told Eagles the good news in a team meeting on Friday morning, saying "you can't ignore performances". "I think deep inside, at the age of 28 and the journey he's been on in his life, it was a mighty big moment for him this morning. "It'll be even bigger on Sunday when he takes the field."
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A remarkable debut for Eagles
Matt Eagles’ profile page on the Foxtel AFL reality show The Recruit in 2016 told how he was angry at himself for choosing partying with his mates over footy in his younger days, especially after seeing boyhood mates Jared Polec and Jared Petrenko succeed at the highest level.

Living in Morningside at the time and listing himself as a scaffolder/massage therapist as he enrolled for series two of the show in which a bunch of non-mainstream footballers were coached by the legendary Mick Malthouse for a guaranteed AFL rookie contract, he vowed to have one last crack at his football dream.

It was a long shot at best. A very long shot. Even when Eagles won the show and received a 2017 rookie spot with the Lions he was a long way off the level of AFL football. Teammates questioned what he was doing there, and cynics suggested he only got a chance because there was a contractual obligation between Foxtel and the AFL.

Fast forward two years and Eagles is set for one of the most remarkable AFL debuts in history. Having won the total respect and admiration of teammates and coaches alike with his dedication, application, hard work and performance, the 199cm forward/ruckman turned key defender will play for the Lions against Collingwood at the Gabba on Sunday.

So popular is Eagles within the playing group there was positive elation when they were told of his selection. Eagles, born 9 February 1990, he will be 28 years 86 days old, becoming the oldest ever Brisbane Bears/Lions debutant. Easily. He will surpass fellow Queenslander Tony Beckett, who in 1987 was the first player to step out of the then QAFL competition into the Bears' ranks. He was 26 years 304 days old and went on to play six games.

The oldest first-gamer in the post-merger Lions era has been Stephen Wrigley, who was 25 years 102 days old when he played the first of three games in 2012. Eagles will also be the oldest debutant among the current AFL playing fraternity, going past Hawthorn’s David Mirra who was 27 years 27 days on debut in Round 4 this year.

Five other players debuted for the Bears beyond 25: inaugural captain Mark Mickan (26 years 52 days), Adam Garton (25/133), Stephen Williams (25/310), Queenslander Danny Dickfos (25/182) and former No.1 draft pick John Hutton (25/300).

The oldest after Wrigley in the Lions era have been Broc McCauley (24/104), Round 6 debutant Oscar McInerney (23/292), Zac O’Brien (23/216), current vice-captain Dayne Zorko (23/93), Irishman Niall McKeever (22/129), Jason Roe (22/55) and 94-gamer turned North Melbourne assistant-coach Josh Drummond (22/25).

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Born in South Australia but a junior product of Yeronga and South Brisbane, Eagles will wear jumper number 41 on debut against the Pies. Ironically, so did Beckett, the former Mayne Tigers and Queensland wingman. Eagles will be the 314th Brisbane player and the sixth to wear #41, for which ex-Bears and Lions defender Matt Kennedy holds the all-time AFL record for most games at 188.

Others to wear #41 have been Marty Pask (8 games), Scott Clouston (2 games) and Mitch Golby (56 games).

Thirteen players in the Fitzroy era are listed as having worn #41, headed by Lee Murnane, who played 51 games from 1981-84, and Peter Bird, who was the last Fitzroy player to wear #41 when he played 15 games in 1995-96.

Others were Tony Spassopoulos (1 game in 1985), Paul McLean (1 game in 1987), Vern Drake (2 games in 1966), Bob Hayton (2 games in 1965), Phillip Early (3 games in 1980), Kevin Ellis (4 games in 1963), John Christou (7 games in 1975-77), Dennis Aspinall (9 games in 1966-67), Ray Brain (13 games in 1972-74), Graeme Shearer (19 games – 1968-70) and Peter Bourke (22 games in 1989-91).

When Eagles joined the Lions he was long odds to survive his first year. Like series one winner of The RecruitJohann Wagner, who joined Port Adelaide, struggled even to play at SANFL level, and soon found himself in the SANFL Reserves and out the door.

Eagles admitted that he was slow to start with the Lions. “You spend most of your time trying to fit in with the boys and trying to get to know everyone. It took a while but the boys and the coaches have been fantastic,” he said

A key member of the Lions side that won the NEAFL premiership last year, starring with his intercept work at fullback, Eagles had offered to play for nothing just to keep his spot on the list this year, but the Club, having seen such massive progress, committed to giving him a chance and listed him as a Category B rookie.

Eagles said he tried not to think too much about things as he waited to learn whether he would get a second year at the Gabba. “Thinking about that takes you off footy, and you can get caught up in it. I tried not to think about contracts and just tried to play my best footy,” he said. “If I got another contract, great, but if not, I knew I’d given it my all.”

Few players in the current system of elite junior development pathways have walked a path like Eagles. “I’ve worked in the mines and I’ve done a lot of shift work and got paid a lot less money,” he said. “It’s probably helped me a bit coming here. I know not to take it for granted and know how good we have it here. So just try and make the most of it every day and really enjoy it.”

As he told lions.com.au when he was listed for 2018, Eagles has been no stranger to hard yakka over his young life. He’s worked as an excavator/operator at Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, did dredging work in Gladstone, regional Queensland and at one time owned a landscaping business.

He grew up in Port Lincoln, South Australia, and did not start playing footy until he was a teenager. A friend asked him to come down to his club one afternoon. He’d hardly played footy before – he enjoyed playing mixed netball and cricket. His father, a Collingwood fan, had dabbled in footy but was better known for his surfing prowess.

It was quickly obvious at the club that Eagles had a gift. As he grew older, he started playing SANFL for the Port Adelaide Magpies. People around the club said he would be drafted and that scouts from AFL clubs had been looking at him. But he admits there was an opportunity missed. He never elected to the draft and becoming an AFL player didn’t “just happen.”

He had to make a choice: stay playing local footy or go to the mines and earn a decent wage. He took the money. “When I think about all the jobs I’ve worked, it sort of puts in perspective how good we have it and how lucky I am,” he said.
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Matty Eagles will also become the 200th player to play for the Brisbane Lions as a merged club.

I am really hoping an old mate of mine, Max Kennedy will be welcomed back into the club to present Matt his #41 jumper before the game.
 
In his presser, Chris Fagan said "he has a couple of the younger players living with him". For the club to have that faith in him, he must be a positive influence on the group, as the older bloke. A credit to him, and to come as far as he has in the last 2 years is monumental.

Go Matty, the folk hero we need. I have full faith he will rise to the occasion.
 
BuntonRules said:
In his presser, Chris Fagan said "he has a couple of the younger players living with him". For the club to have that faith in him, he must be a positive influence on the group, as the older bloke. A credit to him, and to come as far as he has in the last 2 years is monumental.

Go Matty, the folk hero we need. I have full faith he will rise to the occasion.
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Pretty sure one of them is Cedric Cox.
I have seen them together on a few occasions.
 

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