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GVGjr
09-02-2020, 08:22 AM
Matthew Suckling (https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/western-bulldogs/shoeobsessed-matthew-suckling-has-no-plans-to-give-his-afl-career-the-boot-anytime-soon/news-story/29b29311a56be3b25e979f8c140247e9) is “definitely a shoes man”.

“I’ve got my favourites that sit in their boxes,” Suckling said.

“We’re looking at 20-25 that are still in their boxes and get cleaned after every use.

“They’re easy to clean if you don’t get them dirty, so if you’re very particular with where you step they get looked after.”

Don’t be fooled by Suckling’s birth certificate.

The second-oldest Western Bulldog in 2020 is, along with Jason Johannisen, still the Whitten Oval trendsetter.

“JJ and I send each other a lot of pictures from the NBA and NFL and we’re very Americanised,” Suckling said.

“We like to express ourselves and we like a bit of retail therapy every now and then. On interstate trips we sit there online and pick out some nice things.”

Suckling’s wardrobe also delivers an insight into his footy career, with neither going out of style anytime soon.

Suckling – long linked to post-AFL punting career in America – hopes there is plenty of wear left in his footy boots before he hangs them up … or puts them back in the box.

“The goal is to just keep playing AFL and that (NFL) won’t become an option,” the 31-year-old said.

“I still feel really refreshed and hopefully there’s a few more years left.”

Bulldog fans will be hoping that Suckling’s 25 left shoes have an extra inch of padding, because that booming foot remains one of their big weapons.

Remember Suckling’s penetrating goal 21 seconds into last year’s elimination final against Greater Western Sydney? It was the only bright spot for the visitors on a day that quickly soured.

Champion Data rates Suckling “elite”. His delivery inside 50m ranked 11th in the AFL for retention through marks last year.

Suckling even has his very own kicking style.

“I kicked the soccer ball first and just figured I could get more power kicking around the corner,” he said.

“A fair few coaches gave me a spray kicking around corners growing up, but I stuck to my guns.

“The way I kick gives good leverage, it probably causes a few more shanks than I would like, but the power’s definitely there.”

Completing Suckling’s forever young look, the Wagga Wagga boy promised to bleach his hair blond to raise cash for the bushfires – and generated more than $10,000 in donations in just 36 hours.

“I’m obviously from NSW and they’re pretty heavily affected back there,” Suckling said.

“I was actually meant to be up pretty close to where the fires were, and a lot of my friends and family had to help fight fires or evacuate and stand in some rivers and stuff.

“I spent a lot of time growing up and making memories in the affected areas. That was probably the hardest thing to see.

“I was sitting on the couch and kind of wanted to dye my hair so I thought this would be a good reason to do it.

“I was happy to go and get it bleached and am now just waiting for Mr Johannisen to do the same. He said that if we got $10,000 he’d do it as well. He’s had the haircut and I think he’s ready to go.”

There’ll be no missing Suckling’s breakaway speed against Collingwood in Round 1, either, with the bleached hair that helped him pull off an Eminem costume at a party last night set to stay.

Yet Suckling was a missing ingredient when the club won the 2016 premiership.

“It was obviously pretty hard. I had an Achilles problem throughout the second half of the year. I think I was playing one week on, one week off,” Suckling said.

“It was getting harder and harder to get up each week.”

Suckling was given two weeks off after Round 18, another after Round 21, another after Round 23 (the bye) and then, after back-to-back finals, he was done.

“We played Hawthorn (in the semi-final) and that was a game I didn’t want to sit out,” Suckling said, having just crossed from a Hawks team coming off four-straight Grand Finals.

“Playing that one I probably knew that the turnaround was going to be pretty hard.

“I was sliding down my stairs on my backside in the mornings, it was pretty bad.”

Suckling next ran in the Tuesday of Grand Final week and, while he “just” got through training and was named an emergency, he was too sore to play.

“Carrying it for that long it was gradually getting worse and worse and it wouldn’t have been a good thing for me to be playing,” he said.

“It was obviously nice to play in a couple of winning finals and I definitely have motivation still going to achieve some more with this group.”


Luke Beveridge’s summer in the back seat has allowed his Western Bulldog assistants to grow, although “The Big Dog” is back in charge now.

Star defender Matthew Suckling said the initiative had been “good for everyone” with senior assistant Steven King in charge of a chunk of pre-season.

“The players can hear a different voice and I know since Bevo’s been back that, when he takes meetings and stuff, he’s got that real authoritative voice,” Suckling said.

“And it’s a fresh voice again, too. It’s really good for the other coaches to take the reins and organise training and manage everything without ‘The Big Dog’ here.

“I’m sure they really grow as coaches.”

Suckling anointed boom youngster Tim English and fellow defender Bailey Williams as the summer standouts, while he has also trained with top draft prospect Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.

“ (Ugle-Hagan’s) looked really good. Really athletic and I’m sure he’s going to have a promising AFL career,” Suckling said.

Ugle-Hagan has been likened to Lance Franklin and will land at Whitten Oval as a Next Generation Academy prospect, which will enable the Dogs to draft him at a discount.

Suckling said new captain Marcus Bontempelli was “really composed”.

The left-footer spent his off-season in America and was given the “royal treatment” at one of Joe Ingles’ NBA games for Utah Jazz.

“Roughy and Hodgey (Jarryd Roughead and Luke Hodge) are good mates with Joe Ingles, so we had dinner and drinks with him after a game, which was pretty nice,” Suckling said.

“We got to go on the court and meet a few of the boys.”

azabob
09-02-2020, 08:54 AM
Thanks for posting.

Suckling is one of my favourite players at the dogs. He adds something different on field.
Like a handful of regular senior players supporters focus on his shortfalls and not necessarily what he brings to the table.
I find him frustrating at times, clearly not as much as he frustrates others on this forum!

GVGjr
09-02-2020, 09:20 AM
Suckling is rated elite by Champion data but most of us can't find a spot for him our back 6
I agree Aza, he can frustrate at times but he's been a very good performer in the last 2 seasons

bornadog
09-02-2020, 03:04 PM
I think he is in our best 22, we need experience down back, so Suckling gives us that.

Happy Days
09-02-2020, 04:16 PM
Suckling was excellent last year. No way he isn't in the best 22 for round one.

mjp
09-02-2020, 08:51 PM
He takes the game on.

I will always think fondly of his efforts during 2018 in particular when he was the one player prepared to take the game on when everyone else had decided better safe than sorry. Sure, it comes undone sometimes but if you want to win you have got to take chances with the footy in hand.

Twodogs
10-02-2020, 12:49 PM
He takes the game on.

I will always think fondly of his efforts during 2018 in particular when he was the one player prepared to take the game on when everyone else had decided better safe than sorry. Sure, it comes undone sometimes but if you want to win you have got to take chances with the footy in hand.

You have to get the footy in your hands and if there is one thing Suckling loves (and I love watching it) it's getting the footy and then unloading with that booming left foot. Suckling always wants the footy-as soon as the ball is extracted from a contest Suckers is up and away.

I remember one game against Collingwood. It was coming up to time on and we had led all day a pack forms about 30 metres out from our goal and I saw Suckling walk to a spot on the ground about ten metres from the pack on the other side of the goal. So he's standing all by himself about 40 metres out and my dad leans over and says "WTF is Suckling doing? Why isn't he in that pack?" The umpire bounced the ball, a player whacks it and the bloody thing squeezes straight to him! he just picked up the ball and kicked the sealer.

I don't know if it was a set play or Suckling is a genius at knowing where the ball is tracking to but it was one of the best things I have seen.

SonofScray
10-02-2020, 03:09 PM
Solid player for us who has a real weapon that sets him apart from his peers.

I thought he was really competitive last year in areas I believe he normally struggles a little (below his feet, 50-50 ground balls). When things weren't going well, he lifted that side of his game. You want him with the ball, in space, preferably on the attacking side of the ground so his long kicking can hot the scoreboard, create a contest very deep or at worst mean the opposition have to go all the way back if they want to score on us.

Go_Dogs
10-02-2020, 07:08 PM
Smart runner and busts a gut getting back.

Hope we can see him play for a dew more years.

Bulldog4life
11-02-2020, 09:24 AM
Suckers did shine in the back half last season during our winning run. When he runs up the ground those shots from 50 plus metres out can be team lifting when he kicks truly.

Mofra
11-02-2020, 10:08 AM
I don't mind him starting on the bench and playing a game breaker role. He has been employed on the HF line at times in congested games to help us get deeper F50 entries, we push Lloyd back where his smarts around goals can help us. If Weightman is playing too there's another avenue.