Matthew Egan

Matthew Egan
Matt Egan playing for Geelong.
Personal information
Full name Matthew Egan
Born (1983-07-10) 10 July 1983 (age 43)
Original team Geelong (VFL)
Draft No. 62, 2004 National Draft
Height 198 cm (6 ft 6 in)
Weight 101 kg (223 lb)
Position Centre half-back
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2005–2007 Geelong 59 (1)
Coaching career3
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
2015 Essendon 3 (1–2–0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2007.
3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2015.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Matthew Egan (born 10 July 1983) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He served as interim senior coach at the Essendon Football Club after the resignation of James Hird for the final three rounds of the 2015 season. He served as head of development at the Melbourne Football Club from September 2016 until 2020.

AFL playing career

Geelong

Egan took up football in his late teens after having been a promising junior tennis player, having once been ranked fifth for juniors in Victoria. As a sentiment to this he is known for his trademark "Forehand punch" as he swings it like a tennis Forehand. Geelong drafted him with their final pick in the 2004 National Draft, after he had played in the VFL with the reserves and was named Geelong's best first-year player for 2005.

He was a tall centre half-back, who often shut down some of the opposition's top forwards, including Nick Riewoldt, Barry Hall, Matthew Lloyd, Fraser Gehrig, Jonathan Brown, Matthew Pavlich and Quinten Lynch amongst others.

Egan had a spectacular third season in the AFL, playing 22 matches, with 257 disposals, achieving several honours such as All-Australian selection, and celebrated his 50th AFL game with a win over the Sydney Swans, even though he did only manage nine disposals.

Round 14 saw a 50-point win over Essendon, with 12 disposals, and receiving an Army Award nomination for a courageous goal-saving, diving smother. He was declared the round's winner with 44% of the public vote, but ultimately lost out in the selection of the final shortlist of the year's weekly winners.

Against the Brisbane Lions in Round 22, Egan fractured the navicular bone in his right foot during a marking contest with Jonathan Brown, requiring emergency surgery to insert screws into his foot. This injury saw Egan forced out of the finals, missing both the AFL and VFL's victorious premiership sides.

Egan capped off an excellent season with selection in the 2007 All-Australian Team as the centre half-back in a squad that contained nine Geelong players. He was also named Geelong's Best Clubman for 2007.

In November 2008, Geelong admitted it was unlikely that Egan would play AFL again, as a result of the foot injury he sustained in 2007.

On 26 August 2009, Geelong announced that they would delist Egan, but that they remained hopeful he would play again in the AFL and they also retired the number 19 for season 2010 in honour of Egan.

Egan played for Geelong from 2005 until 2007 for total of 59 games and one goal.

AFL Coaching Career

Geelong

In 2009, Egan worked that year as an assistant coach at the Cats VFL team and continued to work for the club as an assistant in 2010.

Essendon

In October 2011, Egan joined Essendon as an assistant coach under senior coach James Hird. In the 2015 AFL season, Egan was appointed as caretaker senior coach of Essendon, following the resignation of senior coach James Hird and coached the club for the final three games of the 2015 season. Egan was able to coach the team to a series of better performances including a win against Collingwood. Egan said “I enjoyed the three games that I got. It probably showed me that I’ve still got a lot to work on!” Egan was not retained as senior coach of Essendon at the end of the 2015 AFL season. Egan was then replaced by John Worsfold as senior coach of Essendon. Egan however remained with Essendon as an assistant coach.

Egan departed the Essendon Football Club at the end of the 2016 AFL season.

Melbourne

Egan then served as an assistant coach in the role of head of development at the Melbourne Football Club under senior coach Simon Goodwin from September 2016 until 2020.

Geelong

Egan then returned to Geelong in October 2021 as assistant coach in the role of Head of Development under senior coach Chris Scott. Egan then departed Geelong at the end of the 2023 AFL season.

Sports Administration career

Western Bulldogs

In January 2024, Egan joined Western Bulldogs as general manager of football operations.

Statistics

Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2005 Geelong 19150167651324980.00.14.54.38.83.30.5
2006 Geelong 19221010213023282310.00.04.65.910.53.71.4
2007 Geelong 19220011514225780290.00.05.26.511.73.61.3
2008 Geelong 190——————————————
2009 Geelong 190——————————————
Career 59 1 1 284 337 621 211 68 0.0 0.0 4.8 5.7 10.5 3.6 1.2

References

  1. ↑ "Assistant Coach - Matthew Egan". www.essendonfc.com.au. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  2. 1 2 Burgan, Matt (28 September 2016). "Egan joins club to head development". MelbourneFC.com.au. Bigpond. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  3. ↑ Gullan, Scott (5 October 2007). "Ablett turns the tables on Bartel in Geelong B&F". Herald Sun. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  4. ↑ "Egan's career could be over, says Cats". ABC News. 12 November 2008. Retrieved 12 November 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  5. ↑ "AFL Tables - Matthew Egan - Stats - Statistics". afltables.com. Retrieved 12 October 2026.
  6. ↑ "Geelong will de-list Matthew Egan". Herald Sun. 26 August 2009. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  7. ↑ "Egan appointed as Essendon assistant coach". essendonfc.com.au. 4 October 2011. Retrieved 12 October 2026.
  8. ↑ Guthrie, Ben (15 September 2016). "Ex-interim Essendon coach leaves club". afl.com.au. Retrieved 12 October 2026.
  9. ↑ Conway, Simon (20 August 2015). "Egan takes charge". essendonfc.com.au. Retrieved 12 October 2026.
  10. ↑ "Coach Egan". essendonfc.com.au. 16 November 2015.
  11. ↑ Zoccali, Basil (16 November 2015). "Coach Egan". essendonfc.com.au. Retrieved 12 October 2026.
  12. ↑ Schmook, Nathan (5 October 2015). "Worsfold era begins". essendonfc.com.au. Retrieved 12 October 2026.
  13. ↑ "Egan takes on new role". essendonfc.com.au. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2026.
  14. ↑ Malcolm, Alex (5 November 2015). "Matthew Egan takes over as Essendon's VFL coach". afl.com.au. Retrieved 12 October 2026.
  15. ↑ Guthrie, Ben (15 September 2016). "Ex-interim Essendon coach leaves club". afl.com.au. Retrieved 12 October 2026.
  16. ↑ Media, Cats (20 October 2023). "Egan To Depart The Cats". geelongcats.com.au. Retrieved 12 October 2026.
  17. ↑ Rogers, Michael (25 January 2024). "Dogs appoint new footy boss, begin search for women's GM". afl.com.au. Retrieved 12 October 2026.
  18. ↑ "Matthew Egan stats". AFL Tables. Retrieved 1 October 2019.