(continued from front fl ap) At his peak, Matthew Lloyd also delves into his testy Lloyd was a goal- relationship with his fi nal coach, and the kicking machine in an bone-crunching hit that saw him fi nish his time as a player on suspension. era when the power Above all, it is a brutally honest forward was fading account of an astonishing career from from the game. a man who is a straight shooter in more STRAIGHT SHOOTER LLOYD MATTHEW ways than one. A fi ve-time All-Australian, he topped the AFL in goal kicking three times in his 270- game career and kicked the ton twice, his fi rst in the Essendon Premiership season MATTHEW LLOYD is destined to be of 2000. remembered as one of the game’s Born into a football family, it was clear greatest full-forwards. After playing 270 early in his career that he had the ability games for the Bombers, he retired in to surpass his father John’s 29 games 2009. He continues to work in football with Carlton. For a while it looked like as a coach with the AFL-AIS Academy he would head to the Blues as well, but and through media commitments with Essendon conjured up a complex deal Ten/One HD, SEN and The Age. to secure the talented 16-year-old in the 1994 preseason draft. ANDREW CLARKE is a writer and Straight Shooter is the story of a kid journalist from Melbourne. This is his driven by a fear of failure, who climbed third co-authored autobiography and the highest peaks in football after sixteenth book. MATTHEW LLOYD teaching himself a routine that would help him become the most accurate shot for STRAIGHT SHOOTER goal in the AFL. It reveals how a boy with natural ability and a dream became the captain of the Essendon Football Club, a Premiership player and a life member of the AFL. Lloyd also sheds light on his off-the- fi eld life and transformation into a devoted www.randomhouse.com.au ISBN 978-1-86471-293-3 father and multimedia expert on AFL, when it looked from the outside that his SPORT/ BIOGRAPHY MATTHEW LLOYD career was cut short before its time. Front cover photo: Slattery Media Group Back cover photo: Network Ten WITH ANDREW CLARKE 9 781864 712933 Cover design: Blue Cork (continued on back fl ap) Copyright © Lloyd and Clarke 2011. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Straight Shooter jacket.indd 1 28/06/11 4:17 PM An Ebury Press book Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060 www.randomhouse.com.au First published by Ebury Press in 2011 Copyright © Matthew Lloyd 2011 The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at www.randomhouse.com.au/offices National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry Lloyd, Matthew. Straight shooter/Matthew Lloyd & Andrew Clarke. ISBN 978 1 86471 293 3 (hbk.) Lloyd, Matthew. Australian football players – Biography. Other Authors/Contributors: Clarke, Andrew. 796.336092 Internal design by Post Pre-Press Group Typeset in 12.5/17 pt Minion by Post Pre-Press Group Printed in Australia by Griffin Press, an accredited ISO AS/NZS 14001:2004 Environmental Management System printer 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The paper this book is printed on is certified against the Forest Stewardship Council® Standards. Griffin Press holds FSC chain of custody certification SGS-COC-005088. FSC promotes environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests. Copyright © Lloyd and Clarke 2011. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Straight Shooter_3rd Pages.indd 4 27/06/11 2:18 PM Foreword by Lisa Lloyd To the outside world and the football public, Matthew Lloyd is and will always be remembered as the champion Essendon full-forward who threw grass in the air before kick- ing one of his many goals. A rare talent who always kept his eyes on the ball, and a great role model on and off the field. Some may argue that his long and tedious goalkicking routine was annoying, but his professionalism, determination and motivation to succeed made him unbeatable on match day. To me, he is all of the above and so much more. He is my husband, soul-mate and the father of my children. He is my partner in life, and he fills our home with love and laughter. He has such an uncontrollable laugh that he often ends up in tears. Matt is a dedicated and hands-on father to our two girls, Jaeda and Kira, and they absolutely adore him. I am his biggest fan, and together we have experienced many highs and lows throughout his fifteen-year career. We met while in Year 12 in 1995. He was a shy seventeen-year- old and the nicest boy I had ever met. We instantly shared a connection and have been together ever since. xi Copyright © Lloyd and Clarke 2011. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Straight Shooter_3rd Pages.indd 11 27/06/11 2:18 PM xii STRAIGHT S HOOTER I wasn’t a football fan when we met so I didn’t realise there were such big raps regarding Matt’s football ability. But I soon cottoned on and went to almost every match he played, sitting with his parents, John and Bev, and my mother, Mary, to cheer him on from the grandstand. I was constantly anxious, always hoping he would play well, as I knew he went above and beyond in his preparation. In the days leading up to a match Matt was always very focused and intense. He is very much a creature of habit: the night before he kicked thirteen goals against the Syd- ney Swans in 1999, he had eaten tuna pasta and so this became his pre-match meal on most occasions. The menu only changed if he had played badly the week before – then we would alter the pasta sauce but still stick to the same routine. He prepared for every match like it was his first, and was just as nervous every week throughout his entire career. I don’t think he realised how talented or invincible he was on the field. He has never had the ego or arrogance of most people who are at the top of their profession, which is par- ticularly true in sport, and I believe this is what makes him a unique individual. I will never forget some of his amazing games. It was a privilege to witness so many of his unbeliev- able marks and goals and, due to our close bond, to share in his joy and excitement. Matt hasn’t changed since the day we met. He is still the same down-to-earth, grounded person who always appreci- ates his family and friends, and I have no doubt that this is because of his parents, John and Bev, and the wonderful upbringing he had with his brothers, Simon and Brad, and Copyright © Lloyd and Clarke 2011. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Straight Shooter_3rd Pages.indd 12 27/06/11 2:18 PM FO REWORd xiii sister, Kylie. I have watched him grow and become a cham- pion of his sport, and he is now relishing his media and coaching roles. The times leading up to Matt’s decision to retire were the most challenging and difficult of his career, apart from when he ripped his hamstring off the bone against the Western Bulldogs in 2006. That injury required such a long recovery process. Matt couldn’t sit comfortably for months with- out the wound from the surgery bleeding, which made his rehabilitation even more challenging. But his determination is definitely one of his greatest attributes. I was so proud of his comeback to football, particularly when the media were already pre-empting his retirement due to the nature of the injury. In 2008 Matt was out of form and under intense media scrutiny. I know him better than anyone, and I had never seen him so stressed and withdrawn. But his drive to get back to his best was amazing. When Matt made the decision to retire in 2009, I took it pretty hard and felt it was premature. I had just given birth to our second daughter, Kira, so it was a very emotional time in any case, but in the end I understood that he wasn’t enjoying playing football anymore.