Matthew Cottrell (born 29 February 2000) is an

Australian rules footballer Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

who plays for the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). He was recruited by the

through the 2019 Pre-season supplemental selection period.

Early football

Cottrell played football for the Pearcedale Football Club. He played for the

Dandenong Stingrays The Dandenong Southern Stingrays are an Australian rules football team in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. 1992 saw the birth of the Southern Stingrays, developed under the leadership of Steve Kennedy (Regiona ...

in the

NAB League The Talent League (also known as the Coates Hire, Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the National Australia Bank, NAB League and Transport Accident Commission, TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representa ...

for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Although Cottrell only played 2 games in 2017, he cemented his spot in 2018 and played 19 games. He is the grandson of former player

Len Cottrell Len Cottrell (born 27 January 1936) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Cottrell played with Bethanga in the Tallangatta & District Football League The Tallangatta and ...

AFL career

Cottrell was not selected in either the national or rookie draft, but trained with and was then recruited to the

in February 2019 in the pre-season supplemental selection period. After playing his entire first season in Carlton's , the

Northern Blues The Northern Bullants are a semi-professional Australian rules football club that currently competes in the Victorian Football League (VFL). The club, which is based in the Melbourne suburb of Preston, plays its home games at Preston City Ov ...

, he made his senior AFL debut in Round 11, 2020, against in one of three matches Carlton played in a Perth quarantine hub during the pandemic-interrupted 2020 season. Later that season, in just his fifth career match, Cottrell kicked the winning goal two minutes from the final siren a come-from-behind victory against , in which Carlton conceded the first seven goals of the game before recovering to win 8.9 (57) to 8.4 (52). Cottrell was elevated to Carlton's senior list from their rookie list for 2024 in late 2023, following an outbreak season in the Blues' first finals campaign since 2013, in which he kicked 11 goals, including 3 in his first finals campaign.

Statistics

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2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

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References

External links

* * * 2000 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Dandenong Stingrays players Carlton Football Club players Northern Bullants players 21st-century Australian sportsmen {{AFL-bio-2000s-stub