Matthew Wright (born 14 December 1989) is a former professional

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 played for the

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

and 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 selected with pick 33 in the 2010 rookie draft from in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL).

Early life

Two years prior to being drafted, Wright fractured his skull when he was hit by a glass bottle at a party. Wright played for Walkerville in the South Australian Amateur Football League (now known as the Adelaide Footy League) and in the

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

. After missing out on the 2009 national draft, Wright was one of four

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 199 ...

players selected in the 2010 rookie draft.

AFL career

Wright played his first AFL game in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

against in Showdown XXX, replacing Richard Tambling who had injured his ankle in a collision at training. He was named as the substitute player and was on the bench until the third quarter. After being omitted from Adelaide's squad and playing for in the

the following week, he was recalled to the Adelaide side in round six and maintained his position in the senior team for the rest of the season. At the end of 2011, he was elevated to Adelaide's senior list. In

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, Wright worked his way into the side early in the season and was a regular in an Adelaide side that made the preliminary final, used as a midfielder/forward and occasional run-with player. He averaged 20 disposals for the season, and in round 20 against , he amassed a career-high 37 disposals. After wearing the number 47 jumper for his first two seasons, Wright switched to the number 11 jumper for the 2013 season. Wright struggled with injury and inconsistent form in 2013, but still played 17 games including crucial 4-goal efforts against and . Wright returned to form in 2014, playing 20 games, kicking 14 goals and averaging nearly 19 possessions. Wright was delisted by Adelaide in October 2015. In November, Wright was recruited by as a delisted free agent. He played all 22 games for Carlton in the 2016 season, primarily as a small forward, and was the Blues' leading goalkicker for the season with 22 goals, including hauls of three goals in the first and last rounds of the year. In his second season at Carlton, he bettered his goal tally by 8, kicking 30 goals in 22 games in the 2017 AFL season. Altogether, Wright played 65 of a possible 66 games in three seasons for Carlton, and kicked 73 goals. He retired from AFL football following the 2018 season to pursue a coaching career back in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

Coaching career

In 2019 Wright became a development coach at the

, and captain of the club's reserves team in the

, remaining in both roles until the 2023 season. Wright retired from SANFL football at the conclusion of the 2023 season, but in 2025 returned to to become the head coach of the team he captained only two years prior.

Statistics

: ''Statistics are correct to end of the 2018 season'' , - ,

, , 47 , , 19 , , 18 , , 8 , , 146 , , 125 , , 271 , , 62 , , 66 , , 1.0 , , 0.4 , , 7.7 , , 6.6 , , 14.3 , , 3.3 , , 3.5 , - ,

, , 47 , , 22 , , 15 , , 10 , , 230 , , 215 , , 445 , , 91 , , 90 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 10.5 , , 9.8 , , 20.2 , , 4.1 , , 4.1 , - ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, , 11 , , 17 , , 11 , , 3 , , 146 , , 132 , , 278 , , 72 , , 44 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 8.6 , , 7.8 , , 16.4 , , 4.2 , , 2.6 , - ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, , 11 , , 20 , , 14 , , 8 , , 224 , , 150 , , 374 , , 89 , , 68 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 11.2 , , 7.5 , , 18.7 , , 4.5 , , 3.4 , - ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, , 11 , , 16 , , 5 , , 4 , , 143 , , 86 , , 229 , , 43 , , 38 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 8.9 , , 5.4 , , 14.3 , , 2.7 , , 2.4 , - ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , 46 , , 22 , , 22 , , 10 , , 262 , , 188 , , 450 , , 80 , , 82 , , 1.0 , , 0.5 , , 11.9 , , 8.6 , , 20.5 , , 3.6 , , 3.7 , - ,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, , 46 , , 22 , , 30 , , 12 , , 236 , , 121 , , 357 , , 96 , , 64 , , 1.4 , , 0.5 , , 10.7 , , 5.5 , , 16.2 , , 4.4 , , 2.9 , - ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , 46 , , 21 , , 21 , , 12 , , 179 , , 104 , , 283 , , 81 , , 46 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 8.5 , , 5.0 , , 13.5 , , 3.9 , , 2.2 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 159 ! 136 ! 67 ! 1566 ! 1121 ! 2687 ! 614 ! 498 ! 0.9 ! 0.4 ! 9.9 ! 7.1 ! 16.9 ! 3.9 ! 3.1

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Matthew 1989 births Living people Adelaide Football Club players North Adelaide Football Club players Australian rules footballers from South Australia Adelaide Football Club (SANFL) players Carlton Football Club players 21st-century Australian sportsmen