Phillip Matera
Personal information
Date of birth (1975-11-27) 27 November 1975
Original team(s) South Fremantle (WAFL)
Debut Round 4, 21 April 1996, West Coast Eagles vs. Geelong, at Subiaco Oval
Height 171 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Weight 76 kg (168 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1996–2005 West Coast 179 (389)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2005.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Phillip Matera (born 27 November 1975) is a former Australian rules footballer.

Career

Beginning his career in 1996, the 171 cm forward pocket was one of the Australian Football League's best small forwards.

Matera is the brother of former AFL players Peter and Wally, the third of the Matera brothers to player for West Coast. He won the club's goalkicking for the second time in 2002 and his speed and ability to apply pressure often created scoring chances. He hit back strongly after a midseason form slump. In 2003 he was in good form and won All-Australian selection for the first time after kicking 62 goals. In 2004 he just missed out on All-Australian selection after kicking 61 goals, as the selectors opted to play an extra midfielder. In 2005 injury hampered his input but he still managed to kick 39 goals from 19 games. He was a late withdrawal from the 2005 AFL Grand Final due to injury.[1]

On 23 November 2005, Matera announced his retirement from AFL football, citing a chronic back injury. Matera retired from all levels of the game effective immediately, and began focusing on his electrical contracting business, which he began in 2003. He was West Coast's most prominent goalkicker for his final years in a team which struggled for quality key-position forwards, scoring 389 goals from 179 games, the fourth-highest number of goals in the club's history.[2] In December 2009, he become an assistant coach at Claremont.[3]

Matera has since claimed that he walked away from the game in response to not being selected for the 2005 Grand Final. Coach John Worsfold chose the injury prone Travis Gaspar for the Grand Final, who had only played a single game all season, in spite of Matera giving Worsfold his word that he was fit enough to play.[4]

Statistics

[5]
Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
1996 West Coast 335863016461161.61.26.03.29.22.21.20
1997 West Coast 331930231826624874301.61.29.63.513.13.91.60
1998 West Coast 33141313934914232250.90.96.63.510.12.31.80
1999 West Coast 332451201889127966372.10.87.83.811.62.81.54
2000 West Coast 331949301645521957262.61.68.62.911.53.01.44
2001 West Coast 331631221114315448201.91.46.92.79.63.01.31
2002 West Coast 332146161366620263362.20.86.53.19.63.01.71
2003 West Coast 331962271363517153153.31.47.21.89.02.80.82
2004 West Coast 332361421554820365322.71.86.72.18.82.81.41
2005 West Coast 331938281214016147222.01.56.42.18.52.51.21
Career 179 389 227 1316 509 1825 516 249 2.2 1.3 7.4 2.8 10.2 2.9 1.4 14

References

  1. ↑ I thought I could play, Matera
  2. ↑ "West Coast: Injury forces Phil Matera retirement". Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
  3. ↑ "Exciting Young Mix at Tigerland". wafootball.com.au. 11 December 2009. Archived from the original on 4 December 2010.
  4. ↑ Hard Ball Gets Podcast, 2021
  5. ↑ "Phillip Matera stats". AFL Tables. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
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