Matthew Egan

Matthew Egan (born 10 July 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He served as interim senior coach at the Essendon Football Club after the resignation of James Hird for the final three rounds of the 2015 season.[1] He has served as the head of development at the Melbourne Football Club since September 2016.[2]

Matthew Egan
Matt Egan playing for Geelong.
Personal information
Full name Matthew Egan
Date of birth (1983-07-10) 10 July 1983
Original team(s) Geelong (VFL)
Draft No. 62, 2004 National Draft
Height 196 cm (6 ft 5 in)
Weight 101 kg (223 lb)
Position(s) Centre half-back
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2005–2007 Geelong 59 (1)
Coaching career3
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
2015 Essendon 3 (1–2–0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2007.
3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2015.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

AFL career

Egan took up football in his late teens after having been a promising junior tennis player, having once been ranked fifth for juniors in Victoria. As a sentiment to this he is known for his trademark "Forehand punch" as he swings it like a tennis Forehand. Geelong drafted him with their final pick in the 2004 National Draft, after he had played in the VFL with the reserves and was named Geelong's best first-year player for 2005.

He was a tall centre half-back, who often shut down some of the opposition's top forwards, including Nick Riewoldt, Barry Hall, Matthew Lloyd, Fraser Gehrig, Jonathan Brown, Matthew Pavlich and Quinten Lynch amongst others.

Egan had a spectacular third season in the AFL, playing 22 matches, with 257 disposals, achieving several honours such as All-Australian selection, and celebrated his 50th AFL game with a win over the Sydney Swans, even though he did only manage nine disposals.

Round 14 saw a 50-point win over Essendon, with 12 disposals, and receiving an Army Award nomination for a courageous goal-saving, diving smother. He was declared the round's winner with 44% of the public vote, but ultimately lost out in the selection of the final shortlist of the year's weekly winners.

Against the Brisbane Lions in Round 22, Egan fractured the navicular bone in his right foot during a marking contest with Jonathan Brown, requiring emergency surgery to insert screws into his foot. This injury saw Egan forced out of the finals, missing both the AFL and VFL's victorious premiership sides.

Egan capped off an excellent season with selection in the 2007 All-Australian Team as the Centre Half-Back in a squad that contained nine Geelong players. He was also named Geelong's Best Clubman for 2007.[3]

In November 2008, Geelong admitted it was unlikely that Egan would play AFL again, as a result of the foot injury he sustained in 2007.[4]

On 26 August 2009, Geelong announced that they would delist Egan, but that they remained hopeful he would play again in the AFL and they also retired the number 19 for season 2010 in honour of Egan. He worked that year as an assistant coach at the Cats VFL team and continued to work for the club as an assistant in 2010.[5]

Statistics
[6]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2005 Geelong 19150167651324980.00.14.54.38.83.30.5
2006 Geelong 19221010213023282310.00.04.65.910.53.71.4
2007 Geelong 19220011514225780290.00.05.26.511.73.61.3
2008 Geelong 190——————————————
2009 Geelong 190——————————————
Career 59 1 1 284 337 621 211 68 0.0 0.0 4.8 5.7 10.5 3.6 1.2

References
  1. "Assistant Coach - Matthew Egan". www.essendonfc.com.au. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  2. Burgan, Matt (28 September 2016). "Egan joins club to head development". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  3. Gullan, Scott (5 October 2007). "Ablett turns the tables on Bartel in Geelong B&F". Herald Sun. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  4. "Egan's career could be over, says Cats". ABC News. 12 November 2008. Retrieved 12 November 2008.
  5. "Geelong will de-list Matthew Egan". Herald Sun. 26 August 2009. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  6. "Matthew Egan stats". AFL Tables. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
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