Matt Suckling

Matthew Suckling (born 25 July 1988) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club and Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). Suckling is known as a player with precision kicking and link-up play from defence. Characteristic of his style of play is his very long range, very accurate kicking.

Early life Hailing from Wagga Wagga, Suckling played football with Isaac Smith in the Wagga Hawks for several years before both moved to the Wagga Tigers where they won two premierships.

Rookie First drafted by the Hawthorn Football Club at pick 22 in the 2007 Rookie draft. He was struck down by osteitis pubis for most of 2007 but was retained on the rookie list for 2008. Suckling was redrafted to Hawthorn's rookie list by the club at pick 81 in the 2009 Rookie draft.

At the 2009 rookie draft, where Hawthorn had agreed to redraft Suckling; the club mistakenly read out the wrong player registration number and accidentally selected the Sandringham Dragons' best-and-fairest player, Matthew Suckling

He was then finally drafted to Hawthorn's senior list with pick 70 in the 2009 AFL draft.

Career

He made his debut for Hawthorn in the opening round of the 2009 AFL season in the rematch of the 2008 AFL Grand Final against Geelong. The 20-year-old defender was one of three Hawks playing their first game in the MCG blockbuster.

Suckling retired at the conclusion of the 2020 season.

Statistics

178 !! 85 !! 90 !! 2379 !! 1199 !! 3578 !! 928 !! 292 !! 0.5 !! 0.5 !! 13.4 !! 6.7 !! 20.1 !! 5.2 !! 1.6 !! 12