Phillip Matera

Phillip Matera
Personal information
Date of birth	(1975-11-27) 27 November 1975
Original team(s)	South Fremantle (WAFL)
Debut	Round 4, 21 April 1996, West Coast Eagles v. Geelong, at Subiaco Oval
Height/Weight	171 cm / 76 kg
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1996–2005	West Coast Eagles	179 (389)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2005 season.
Career highlights
West Coast leading goalkicker: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 All-Australian: 2003 West Coast Eagles Life Member: 2004 (150 games) VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century: 2007

Phillip "Phil" Matera (born 27 November 1975) is a former Australian rules footballer of Italian-Aboriginal heritage.

Career

Beginning his career in 1996, the 171 cm forward pocket was one of the Australian Football League's best small forwards.

Matera is the brother of former AFL players Peter and Wally, the third of the Matera brothers to player for West Coast. He won the club's goalkicking for the second time in 2002 and his speed and ability to apply pressure often created scoring chances. He hit back strongly after a midseason form slump. In 2003 he was in good form and won All-Australian selection for the first time after kicking 62 goals. In 2004 he just missed out on All-Australian selection after kicking 61 goals, as the selectors opted to play an extra midfielder. In 2005 injury hampered his input but he still managed to kick 39 goals from 19 games. He was a late withdrawal from the 2005 AFL Grand Final due to injury.

On 23 November 2005, Matera announced his retirement from AFL football due to a chronic back injury. He was West Coast's most prominent goalkicker for his final years in a team which struggled for quality key-position forwards, scoring 389 goals from 179 games, the second-highest number of goals in the club's history. He has since, as of December 2009, become an assistant coach at Claremont.

External links

• Phillip Matera's profile on the official website of the West Coast Eagles
• Phillip Matera's statistics from AFL Tables