Matthew Lloyd
 |
| Matthew Lloyd | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| File:Matthew Lloyd | |||
| Personal information | |||
| Original team(s) | Avondale Heights / Western Jets | ||
| Debut | Round 14, 8 July 1995, Essendon vs. Adelaide, at Melbourne Cricket Ground | ||
| Height / weight | 192 cm / 93 kg | ||
| Position(s) | Full Forward | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
|
Essendon (1995–2009) 270 games, 926 goals | |||
|
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of Round 22, 2009. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com | |||
Matthew James Lloyd (born 16 April 1978) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for and was the captain of the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League.
A highly decorated full-forward, Lloyd's Australian Football League honours include seventh highest goalkicker in VFL/AFL history, Coleman Medals as leading goalkicker for three seasons, life membership as well as winning both the Mark of the Year and Goal of the Year awards. Lloyd also belongs to the small group of players whose first kick in the AFL resulted in a goal as well as players to have kicked the "ton" – over 100 goals in a season – twice. Among his representative honours are five All-Australian selections, twice representing Australia in International rules football and a member of the Victorian state team.
As well as being the top all-time goal scorer, captain and life member at Essendon, Lloyd's club honours include a premiership medallion in 2000.
Early life
Matthew Lloyd was born in Melbourne in 1978 to parents John (a former Australian footballer who played 29 games for the Carlton Football Club from 1965–1967) and Bev Lloyd. The Lloyds moved to Scotland for three years because of John's work, and it was there that Matthew picked up rugby and soccer playing for his Currie club.
Lloyd attended St Martin De Porres Parish Primary School in Avondale Heights before moving to St Bernards College, Essendon.
He supported the Fitzroy Football Club when he was young because in the first game he attended, Fitzroy player Bernie Quinlan kicked 10 goals.
Football career
Lloyd was drafted into the AFL as a 16 year old in the 1995 Pre-season Draft as a "compensatory selection" that was awarded to Essendon by the AFL in return for losing Todd Ridley to the newly formed Fremantle Football Club. The Bombers picked up what would be one of their all-time greats for a relative pittance in the draft. Lloyd was heralded as a future football star after his AFL debut in 1995, where he scored a goal with his first kick in league football.
The key features of Matthew Lloyd's game are his powerful marks on the lead (particularly overhead), his use of his body in a defensive capacity and deadly accurate goal kicking, particularly from set shots, on his left foot. He converts a vast majority of set shots inside the 50-metre arc, and kicks further than 50 metres on a regular basis. Lloyd is known for his ritual when taking set shots at goal. Almost every time he takes the time to go far back on the mark, pull both his socks up, then grab some grass and throw it into the air to measure the wind and take a very long run up before kicking. He was the subject of some controversy when the AFL introduced the "shot clock" to limit the amount of time that players had to take set shots, which was labelled by many opposition supporters as being the "Lloyd rule", this is despite the fact that others, such as Brendan Fevola, on average took longer when having a shot on goal.
This goalscoring ability has enabled him to top the Essendon goal scoring every year from 1997 to 2009, except for 2006 when he only played three games due to a serious hamstring injury.
Lloyd has been selected in the All Australian Team on five occasions (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003), has won the Coleman Medal for kicking the most goals in the regular season three times (in 2000, 2001 and 2003) and has twice kicked more than 100 goals in a season (109 in 2000 and 105 in 2001).
Lloyd was a member of Essendon's 2000 premiership team, and was captain of Essendon from 2006–09. He was recognised for his achievements at Essendon in 2002 when he was ranked the 22nd greatest player ever to play for the club in the "Champions of Essendon" list.
In 2005 Lloyd played his 200th game for Essendon in round 13 against St Kilda. The Bombers won by 15 points in what was a shoot-out between Lloyd and Saints pair Fraser Gehrig and Nick Riewoldt.
2006 injury
In the opening round of the 2006 season, the Bombers played the Sydney Swans at Etihad Stadium. Lloyd kicked eight goals in a Bombers victory. This would be the only victory for Lloyd in 2006, and Essendon would not win another game for almost another four months.
Midway through the third quarter of the Essendon vs. Bulldogs match on 16 April (which happened to be Lloyd's 28th birthday), opponent Brian Harris accidentally fell on Lloyd as he tried to mark the ball. Lloyd walked off the ground with the aid of trainers and did not return for the rest of the match. Following scans, a week later it was revealed that the hamstring tendon had been snapped off the bone. Surgery to repair the career threatening injury took place which ruled him out for the rest of the season.
Lloyd made a successful comeback against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium in Round One, 2007. He kicked two goals while working further up the ground, putting to rest any concerns about his injured hamstring. Essendon beat Adelaide by 31 points.
Mark of the year 2008
In round 18 against the Melbourne Demons, Lloyd took a specky of a mark above five players to win the 2008 Mark of the Year. A haul of eight goals in that match gave Lloyd his best return since round 1, 2006.
2009
In Round 22, Lloyd flattened Brad Sewell with a head-high shirtfront which left Sewell unconscious with severe facial injuries and having to be carried from the field on a stretcher and started a bench-clearing brawl. Hawthorn's Campbell Brown called Lloyd "one of the biggest snipers in the game" and said that "his time is coming", and coach Alastair Clarkson had to be restrained by Hawthorn football manager Mark Evans as the teams left the field when Clarkson confronted and threatened Lloyd and abused an interchange steward. Lloyd was given a six-match suspension by the match review panel for the hit on Sewell, but was suspended for four matches after deciding not to appeal the sanction.
On 23 September, Lloyd announced his retirement,after 15 seasons, a premiership and three Coleman Medals, to a packed media conference, saying he would rather bow out a year early than a year late.[1]
Media work
Lloyd co-hosted children's AFL show Auskick'n Around on Fox Footy Channel with Brad Johnson from the Western Bulldogs before it was cancelled at the end of 2005.
In 2005, Lloyd and his wife Lisa were contestants on AFL Lovematch – a gameshow that was on Fox Footy Channel where AFL couples are tested on how well they know each other. They won, defeating Luke Livingston and his partner.
In 2006 Lloyd had a weekly spot as a panelist on Fox Footy's "White Line Fever" and after being forced to spend extended time off the field because of injury, he became recognised for his informative views on all things football – his roles included being a special comments commentator on Triple M's football coverage as well as more regular appearances on The AFL Footy Show, as a panelist.
In 2009 Lloyd appeared as a regular panelist on a new show, One Week at a Time as well as doing special comments on Channel 10 and writing a regular column for The Age newspaper.
Following his retirement, Lloyd signed on be a regular commentator for Channel 10 for the 2010 season. He also began work for radio station SEN and continued working for The Age.
Personal life
His parents are John and Bev Lloyd. John played 29 games for the Carlton from 1965–1967 and was also an engineer. The Lloyds moved to Scotland for three years because of John's work, and it was there that Lloyd picked up rugby and soccer by playing for his Currie club.
Lloyd has two older brothers, Simon, who is the sports psychologist with the Fremantle Football Club, and Brad, who is the former captain of the Williamstown Football Club (and former Hawthorn player) and now national recruiting manager for the Fremantle Football Club, as well as one older sister, Kylie, who is the Unit Manager at The Footy Show.
On 9 November 2002 Lloyd married his childhood sweetheart Lisa-Marie Caparello, known as Lisa, at Xavier College Chapel. Their wedding was covered by New Idea magazine and a documentary of the day titled One Day In November was also aired on Fox Footy Channel. Lisa appeared on The Footy Show's singing competition, Screamers, in 2005 and was also a regular presenter on Fox Footy's Living With Footballers before the show was cancelled at the end of 2004.
Lloyd and Lisa have two daughters, Jaeda Ruby, born on December 15, 2006 and Kira Grace born on September 5, 2009.[2]
References
External links
- Matthew Lloyd's profile on the official website of the Essendon Football Club
- Matthew Lloyd's playing statistics from AFL Tables
 | ||
Coach: Lyon | ||