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Travel takes its toll: Matera
1:06:06 PM Sat 20 April, 2002
Andrew Carter
westcoasteagles.com.au
The extensive travel schedule of the West Coast Eagles has taken its toll on arguably the greatest player the club has produced Peter Matera.
Matera admitted during a frankThe Big Ask interview during the week on westcoasteagles.com.au that he would love to play on for far longer than another one to two years but the toll the constant travel has taken on his body over 13 seasons of AFL football is too great a hurdle to overcome.
Matera’s comments this week about the ramifications of the constant travel on his body and the subsequent shortening of his career and the careers of other outstanding interstate based players again focuses the spotlight upon the inequities of the current AFL scheduling system.
The system as it currently exists provides a walkup start to Melbourne based power clubs such as Essendon.
Essendon enjoys a considerable advantage over interstate clubs playing 17 of its 22 games in Melbourne this season with two of those away games involving a mere jaunt across the border to Sydney and Adelaide.
Despite conceding that his great career will draw to a close sometime over the next couple of seasons Matera stressed that he was ready to go out on a high note.
“The fire is still there, I’ve got a one year contract with the club so I just want to go out there and play as much footy as I can and see what happens at the end of the year,” the champion wingman said.
According to Matera the difference the between the longevity of his career and that of another champion veteran player Carlton’s Craig Bradley is simple “he doesn’t have to fly every two weeks.”
“They (Carlton) might fly once or twice a year to Perth or even to Brisbane whereas we fly to Melbourne or elsewhere every two weeks,” Matera said.
“It is a long time when you‘ve got to recover and all that and I think it takes a big toll on bodies,” he said
Matera, who plays his 240th game against Melbourne on Saturday, is adamant that the demands of travel upon interstate clubs severely shortened the careers of champion teammates Guy McKenna & John Worsfold.
“I have no doubt that guys like John Worsfold and Guy McKenna could have played on for a lot longer under different circumstances,” Matera said
“I think with the plane trips and the amount of body contact that we do have it just becomes too hard to keep fronting up and it will probably have a large influence on how long I can play for,” Matera said
Matera conceded that he would love to play on for longer but the stress on his body and his ability to recover, from having to travel, play and then travel again after an interstate game, lessens each year.
“I’d like to go on for as long as I can but I guess just the body itself and the training and the load on my body after 13 years of AFL football makes it hard,” Matera said
“I don’t know, I have maybe 12 months to two years of football left in me,” he said
Matera is confident however that he has finally thrown off the nagging soft tissue injuries that have hindered him over the past couple of seasons and that he’ll finish his career in style.
“I’ve changed my training regime a bit and am now doing more swimming and not so much legwork on the track and this seems to have worked,” he said.
“I’ve had few injuries to my calf and hamstring over the past couple of seasons and since I”ve changed my training to compensate for that I haven’t had the same amount of problems.”
With the effect that constant interstate travel has had upon the longevity of the careers of many past West Coast greats the obvious question is how long before the inequities of interstate travel catch up with a rampant Brisbane Lions and brings to an end their current domination.
1:06:06 PM Sat 20 April, 2002
Andrew Carter
westcoasteagles.com.au
The extensive travel schedule of the West Coast Eagles has taken its toll on arguably the greatest player the club has produced Peter Matera.
Matera admitted during a frankThe Big Ask interview during the week on westcoasteagles.com.au that he would love to play on for far longer than another one to two years but the toll the constant travel has taken on his body over 13 seasons of AFL football is too great a hurdle to overcome.
Matera’s comments this week about the ramifications of the constant travel on his body and the subsequent shortening of his career and the careers of other outstanding interstate based players again focuses the spotlight upon the inequities of the current AFL scheduling system.
The system as it currently exists provides a walkup start to Melbourne based power clubs such as Essendon.
Essendon enjoys a considerable advantage over interstate clubs playing 17 of its 22 games in Melbourne this season with two of those away games involving a mere jaunt across the border to Sydney and Adelaide.
Despite conceding that his great career will draw to a close sometime over the next couple of seasons Matera stressed that he was ready to go out on a high note.
“The fire is still there, I’ve got a one year contract with the club so I just want to go out there and play as much footy as I can and see what happens at the end of the year,” the champion wingman said.
According to Matera the difference the between the longevity of his career and that of another champion veteran player Carlton’s Craig Bradley is simple “he doesn’t have to fly every two weeks.”
“They (Carlton) might fly once or twice a year to Perth or even to Brisbane whereas we fly to Melbourne or elsewhere every two weeks,” Matera said.
“It is a long time when you‘ve got to recover and all that and I think it takes a big toll on bodies,” he said
Matera, who plays his 240th game against Melbourne on Saturday, is adamant that the demands of travel upon interstate clubs severely shortened the careers of champion teammates Guy McKenna & John Worsfold.
“I have no doubt that guys like John Worsfold and Guy McKenna could have played on for a lot longer under different circumstances,” Matera said
“I think with the plane trips and the amount of body contact that we do have it just becomes too hard to keep fronting up and it will probably have a large influence on how long I can play for,” Matera said
Matera conceded that he would love to play on for longer but the stress on his body and his ability to recover, from having to travel, play and then travel again after an interstate game, lessens each year.
“I’d like to go on for as long as I can but I guess just the body itself and the training and the load on my body after 13 years of AFL football makes it hard,” Matera said
“I don’t know, I have maybe 12 months to two years of football left in me,” he said
Matera is confident however that he has finally thrown off the nagging soft tissue injuries that have hindered him over the past couple of seasons and that he’ll finish his career in style.
“I’ve changed my training regime a bit and am now doing more swimming and not so much legwork on the track and this seems to have worked,” he said.
“I’ve had few injuries to my calf and hamstring over the past couple of seasons and since I”ve changed my training to compensate for that I haven’t had the same amount of problems.”
With the effect that constant interstate travel has had upon the longevity of the careers of many past West Coast greats the obvious question is how long before the inequities of interstate travel catch up with a rampant Brisbane Lions and brings to an end their current domination.
