AFL Legend Leigh Matthews’ Huge Imprint On Both 2023 Grand Final Teams
Craig McRae's legendary coach and a close personal friend of Collingwood and Brisbane great Chris Fagan. And according to Mark Robinson, that's just the beginning of Leigh Matthews' impact on the clincher in 2023.
The phrase "my old coach Leigh Matthews..." is a common one in football.
This is something that is constantly repeated.
The Scott brothers, Michael Voss, and Craig McRae. Prior to that, Nathan Buckley.
Craig Kelly joins the rest of us in a nostalgic stroll. The universe is so exact and succinct in Matthews's view that anything spoken following "my old coach Leigh Matthews..." is instantly believed.
Matthews is known for his practical approach to life.
When discussing football, he gets right to the point, never resorts to histrionics, and almost always leaves the radio audience and his other panelists nodding their heads in agreement.
Over the course of more than 50 years in the game, "Lethal" has established himself as one of the sport's all-time greats, and his influence has only grown in stature and awe.
If the Lions win on Saturday, it is only fitting that Matthews would give Chris Fagan the premiership cup.
For Matthews, today is going to be completely upside down.
Matthews admitted, "My emotions are a bit conflicted this week."
A lot of people I care about are on both sides of the issue, and it makes me torn.
There are many people in Collingwood who have played significant roles in my life and whom I care deeply about.
I did send 'Fly' an SMS this week wishing him the best of luck.
But I'm torn on this. If the Lions can't win it, I'd be glad if Collingwood did, as McRae said at the Lions' Hall of Fame.
You two are fighting a losing battle. That is the cold, hard truth we are all aware of.
Without a doubt, his influence extends to both the Brisbane Lions and the Collingwood club. If not across both organizations entirely.
Matthews is a current board member and a three-time premiership coach with the Brisbane Lions.
He is so content in his current position with the Lions that he turned down a position on the AFL Commission.
He admitted that the allure of working with the sport's most powerful decision-makers at first drew him in, but that the importance of the Lions' position eventually won out.
Even at 71 years old, Matthews longs to be a part of a soccer club.
He and Chris Fagan and Lions CEO Greg Swann regularly get together with their significant others for supper. These three wise men discuss the Lions, their rivals, and probably the challenges facing the world at large.
To eat, Leigh like steak or ribs. I fluctuate. Fagan previously said that the dinners are routine because Leigh is "very much a creature of habit."
Swann concurred, saying, "Leigh always has a steak. Everywhere we go, he brings a steak. Leigh doesn't stir the pot, but Fages does.
Matthews' incredible trip to Brisbane began with a phone call from the current president of the Magpies, Jeff Browne, back in 1999.
When the 1995 season concluded, Matthews had already moved on from Collingwood and was working in the media. Browne, his lawyer, contacted them, most likely on behalf of his good friend and former Lions football boss Andrew Ireland, who just this week joined the committee.
''Jeff Browne was the first person to bring up the Brisbane Lions to me,'' Matthews said.
He acted as a channel. He and Andrew Ireland were close pals. His was the pioneering cry.
Browne may become the most vocal Pies fan on Saturday if his team wins.
Matthews is a Lions Hall of Famer now.
But before he was immortalized with the Lions, he was immortalized as a player with Hawthorn (as the best player of the 20th century) and as a coach with Collingwood (after leading the Pies to their first premiership since 1958 in 1990).
At the Southern Cross party that night, Collingwood's then-president Allan McAlister essentially assured Matthews, then 38, that he would always be the team's coach.
McAlister assured them that they wouldn't let Matthews go until he was too old and infirm to help anyone else.
From 1986 until 1995, Matthews coached the Magpies, a period that includes the tumultuous but ultimately successful 1990 grand final. Graham Wright (current head of football for the Magpies), Kelly (current CEO of the Pies), and Peter Daicos (father of Josh and Nick), who is as charismatic as a cheerleader dad as he was a sharpshooter, were all members of the Collingwood squad.
Craig Starcevich, coach of the Brisbane AFLW club, was also a member of that squad.
Matthews coached the Lions from 1999 until 2008 after Browne asked him to do so.
Collingwood's coach, former small forward with great pace and courage who busied himself under Alastair Lynch and Jonathan Brown, is a member of the premiership-winning side that won three consecutive titles. That guy was a scooter. He'd steal the ball from the group or pick up a loose one and speed down the field. He was on the field for 195 games, scoring 232 times.
Magpies head of strategy and forwards coach Justin Leppitsch was a member of both squads.
After Voss was fired as Brisbane coach in August 2013 and replaced by Leppitsch, Matthews joined the Lions' board a month or so later. He has a strong friendship with Fagan, who was hired when Leppitsch was fired as football director in 2016.
Matthews has a better understanding of Fagan the person than Fagan the coach.
In terms of being "hands on" with the football team, Matthews has stated, "I deliberately don't spend a lot of time around the football department."
I am usually a bystander.
Although I am familiar with Fagan as a person, I have just a peripheral familiarity with his coaching style (as is the case with Fly and Leppa).
He praised McRae, 50, and Fagan, 62, as examples of what modern coaching should be like.
"Fly has been a revelation to the sport really, just his manner," Matthews added. They've done a great job, and the team's performance is a direct reflection of their efforts.
But even just his style and vocabulary have been eye-opening.
Over the coaching decades, there has been a dramatic shift in both the nature of the coaching profession and the sort of personality best suited to it.
The two coaches of the championship teams are both teachers; both are also men of a certain age and maturity; and both are what you would call conciliators, rather than the authoritarian school-principal types who coached in the past.
"They talk about the term'man managers,' and I guess all coaches have been man managers, and we know that Barass (Ron Barassi) just passed away, and to use him as an example, but that actual alpha male authoritarian as coach.
But today's coaches are nothing like that. They can no longer act in such manner.
Fly and Chris Fagan almost personify the modern coach, in my opinion.
It's not that they aren't competitive, but they have an approachable, likable demeanor.
Matthews's loyalty is pragmatic. His focus is entirely on the present moment. He was a hero at Collingwood and is now an integral part of the resurrected Lions, but he will always be a Hawks fan.
He stated, "Of course I'm on the board of the Lions, and my previous involvement was with Collingwood."
We played against this Collingwood team 20 years ago, of course; however, this time there are two extremely well-known people who I coached and am friends with who are on the opposite side.
When you join a club, you become a part of that club. I get along well with the locals of Collingwood, and many current friends of mine are from that area.
It reminds me of hawthorn. At Hawthorn, I experienced some of the best times of my life. I had a fantastic time at Collingwood, and now I'm having a fantastic time at the Lions. Fages, Andrew Wellington (chairman), the rest of the board members, and Greg Swann are all connected with the Lions.
Matthews will participate in 3AW's pre-match panel but will not be on the broadcast for the actual game. He plans on sitting in the spectator section with the Lions.
He declared, "This week, I'm a dedicated fan." I usually provide objective analysis, but this week I'm going to be a die-hard fan.
Most experts agree with him that it's a coin flip.
In the championship game last year, Geelong was clearly the best team.
This season, the Lions' talent faces off against the Magpies' determination.
Both groups are full of talented and determined players; the difference will come down to luck.
squad profiles and statistics show that the Lions are the superior squad.
Clearance. Turnover. Defence. Offence. It's a lion's den up front.
Matthews isn't big on numbers. He predicted that precision will be the most important metric going forward. Is it possible for your team to emerge unscathed?
ROBBO ON WHO WINS
I'm on the Brisbane Lions on a beautiful 29-degree day.
The contest between Jordan De Goey and Josh Dunkley in the middle of the field will be decisive in terms of territory and inside 50s, while Lachie Neale's potential to dominate inside and outside the forward 50 if he is not tagged also stands out.
The Magpies need Billy Frampton to help keep Harris Andrews from patrolling the Lions' defensive 50 on his own terms.
It's also important to stop 'Kiddy' Coleman's penetrating left foot and Conor McKenna's puny right boot.
Eagerly anticipating meeting Nick Daicos. In what capacity will he serve? I imagine it will be somewhere in the middle. What if he were to win the Norm Smith Award? It would be a fitting conclusion to the 20-year-old's amazing season. On the day of the championship game, greatness is magnified, and grandeur awaits the young man.
The match between Darcy Moore and Joe Daniher is pivotal, and if big Joey can get himself together, all the worry about his up-and-down behavior will finally be put to rest. Daniher, your time has come.
Truthfully, this is the time for everyone involved.
Both the Lions and the Pies value pace on the ball, but only if the Pies are able to contain the spread will they be in the game at the final whistle.
These pies actually have ticker. And wisdom and prowess if given the chance to make a play.
It's the championship game, and there are plot twists and subplots galore. What we really need is a close game. Lions win by a single score.