Leigh Matthews Travels from Brisbane, QLD

During his final season with the Lions, Leigh became the eighth longest serving coach in VFL/AFL history. One of just 13 Legends in the AFL Hall of Fame and a member of the “Team of the Century” chosen in 1996, Matthews boasts a record that speaks for itself.

Leigh achieved his third consecutive Premiership win for the Brisbane Lions in 2003. He played 332 games with Hawthorn from 1969–85, was captain for five years, played in four Premiership sides, won a staggering eight Hawk Best and Fairest Awards, and was the club’s leading goal-kicker six times and the AFL’s leading goal-kicker once.

That he was so successful personally in such a successful team underlined his quite extraordinary talents. On his retirement Matthews was appointed assistant-coach at Collingwood in 1986, and replaced Bob Rose as senior coach three games into the season.

In 10 years at the helm at Victoria Park he took the Magpies to the finals five times, and in 1990 was declared a hero when he masterminded a grand final win that broke the club’s 32-year Premiership drought. He spent 1996-98 in the football media, and in 1998 he served “on the couch” with Channel Seven’s hugely popular “Talking Footy” program while also being heavily involved in Seven’s general football coverage.

He wrote for the Herald Sun, and did radio work with Triple M. Along the way he was 1997-98 coach of the Victorian State of Origin side, and in1998 was coach of the All-Australian side that toured Ireland for a two-Test series against the Irish in “International Rules” – a combination of Australian Rules and Gaelic Football.

In August-September 1998 Matthews was lured out of “retirement” to re-join the roller-coaster ride of AFL coaching. Realising he missed the weekly challenge of the game, he accepted a contract as senior coach with the Brisbane Lions and the challenge to restore the respect which the young club had lost in a disappointing 1998 campaign.

The Club went on to win three consecutive Premierships under Leigh’s guidance. Leigh's presentations reflect his ability to draw the best out of people and the dynamic, inspirational approach that he has taken to his football career and his career in sales and marketing.