Brisbane Lions three-time premiership winning Senior Coach Leigh Matthews says even though he’s retired from all forms of the AFL, he desperately craves the adrenaline rush only the game can give you.
Matthews revealed this to Hamish McLachlan, as part of Channel Seven’s Talking Footy podcast.
“On one side there’s an unbelievable upper and on the other side there’s an unbelievable downer,” he said.
“But that’s the stimulation and the rollercoaster that you put yourself [through]. Once you stop doing that, you don’t get that extreme emotion that often. That’s one of the things you miss.”
Matthews was the definition of competitive. As a player, he won four VFL premierships with Hawthorn and was named their best and fairest player in eight seasons.
He would lead Collingwood to a premiership as their Senior Coach in 1990, before travelling to Brisbane. At the Lions Matthews led his men to four straight Grand Finals between 2001-04, returning to Queensland with three flags.
He admits it was hard handing control over to his players. Before big
Even if the Lions were victorious in big
“The special exhilaration is the hour or two after the grand final. By the following morning it’s yesterday already for me,” he said.
“That might last for a day. Then for me, that’s last year.”
It’s probably this very reason why the Lions enjoyed so much success under Matthews.
