Matthew Suckling (born 25 July 1988) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of H ...

and

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the ...

in the Australian Football League (AFL). Suckling is known as a player with precision kicking and link-up play from defence. Characteristic of his style of play is his very long range, very accurate kicking.

Early life

Hailing from

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's ...

, Suckling played football with Isaac Smith in the Wagga Hawks for several years before both moved to the Wagga Tigers where they won two premierships.

Rookie

First drafted by the Hawthorn Football Club at pick 22 in the 2007 Rookie draft. He was struck down by

osteitis pubis Osteitis pubis is a noninfectious inflammation of the pubis symphysis (also known as the pubic symphysis, symphysis pubis, or symphysis pubica), causing varying degrees of lower abdominal and pelvic pain. Osteitis pubis was first described in pa ...

for most of 2007 but was retained on the rookie list for 2008. Suckling was redrafted to Hawthorn's rookie list by the club at pick 81 in the 2009 Rookie draft. At the 2009 rookie draft, where Hawthorn had agreed to redraft Suckling; the club mistakenly read out the wrong player registration number and accidentally selected the

Sandringham Dragons The Sandringham Dragons are an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based at the Trevor Barker Oval in Sandringham, Victoria, representing the south ...

' best-and-fairest player, Matthew Suckling He was then finally drafted to Hawthorn's senior list with pick 70 in the 2009 AFL draft.

Career

He made his debut for Hawthorn in the opening round of the

2009 AFL season The 2009 AFL season was the 113th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured six ...

in the rematch of the

2008 AFL Grand Final The 2008 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between the Geelong Football Club and the Hawthorn Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 27 September 2008. It was the 112th annual grand f ...

against

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

. The 20-year-old defender was one of three Hawks playing their first game in the MCG blockbuster. Omitted the next week because of injury, Suckling was unable to break back into the side; he was listed as an emergency later in the year. In 2010 he played five games, and was on the verge of selection for most of the season. 2011 was a breakthrough year for Suckling; with his precision kicking and link-up play he became a key to Hawthorn's defence. Characteristic of his style of play is his very long range, very accurate kicking. Suckling was selected as the

Australia international rules football team :''This article concerns the men's team; for information on the Australian women's team, see Australia women's international rules football team.'' The Australia international rules football team is Australia's senior representative team in In ...

's goalkeeper for the

2011 International Rules Series The 2011 International Rules Series (officially the 2011 Toyota International Rules Series) was the 16th International Rules Series contested between Gaelic footballers from Ireland and Australian rules footballers from Australia. The series w ...

in Australia. Australia lost the series 2–0, with a 130–65 aggregate score. Suckling was one of two Hawthorn players selected for the team, along with Liam Shiels. Suckling was one of three Hawthorn players to play every game in 2012. During the 2013 NAB Cup pre season competition Suckling tore his anterior cruciate ligament whilst playing against Richmond. Suckling missed the entire 2013 season due to the injury that required a full knee reconstruction. Suckling returned to the side in 2014, and would go on to claim his elusive premiership medal in the club's 2014 Grand Final win. He followed this up with a premiership win in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, starting the game as a substitute and coming on late in the third quarter for David Hale; with the abolition of the substitute rule at the end of the

2015 AFL season The 2015 AFL season was the 119th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured ei ...

, this meant that Suckling became the last player to be substituted into a game. Following the Grand Final, Suckling exercised his right as a free agent and joined the Western Bulldogs. In his first season at the Western Bulldogs Suckling was unfortunate to miss the Preliminary Final and Grand Final victories with an Achilles injury. Suckling became a regular in the Bulldog's backline but in 2018 after playing 11 games he suffered an achilles injury ultimately ended his season. He returned to form in 2019 playing 19 games but only managed 7 games in his final season. Suckling was delisted by the at the conclusion of the

2020 AFL season The 2020 AFL season was the 124th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featu ...

, after 76 games for the club over his five years at the club. Suckling retired at the conclusion of the 2020 season.

Statistics

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2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

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2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

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2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

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2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

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/ref> ! 178 !! 85 !! 90 !! 2379 !! 1199 !! 3578 !! 928 !! 292 !! 0.5 !! 0.5 !! 13.4 !! 6.7 !! 20.1 !! 5.2 !! 1.6 !! 12 Notes

Honours and achievements

Team *2× AFL premiership player ():

*2× Minor premiership ():

Individual *

: 2011

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Suckling, Matt 1988 births Living people Australian rules footballers from New South Wales Hawthorn Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club Premiership players Western Bulldogs players Box Hill Football Club players Sportspeople from Wagga Wagga Australia international rules football team players Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players