AFL By The Numbers: 30 Matthew Scarlett
30
Matthew Scarlett.
Defender for the Geelong Cats.
Scarlett started off his career as "the guy with the floppy hair who plays against Essendon", although there may have also been a time when he went with the shaved look for a short time. His first game of his career was against the Bombers, it was the only game he played in 1998. The next year he played five games and the first of those was again versus Essendon at the MCG. He also played his 100th game against Essendon.
Like around a third of the players that Geelong have on the field, Scarlett was a father/son draft pick by the Cats. Officially he was pick 45 in the 1997 AFL draft.
For someone who is usually the full back, he can total up a useful number of disposals. Over his career, he has had several games over 20 or more kicks. His best ever game was 24 kicks. Very strong above his head, Scarlett also gets plenty of marks. His highest total in a single game is 15 marks.
Geelong are at their best when Scarlett is deep in their back line, as opposed to last season when Scarlett played full forward against Melbourne when Geelong were out of finals contention. The back line has often been a problem area for Geelong in Grand Finals, as their converted full forwards, future Docker and future NFL punter couldn't get the job done when it mattered. Geelong do have a lot of work to do to get to the AFL Grand Final, but with Scarlett ready to take on the big forwards of the AFL they won't have to worry about the back line this time.
Matthew Scarlett information:
192cm, 95kg
Official AFL Profile
Wikipedia entry
Number 29
Matthew Scarlett.
Defender for the Geelong Cats.
Scarlett started off his career as "the guy with the floppy hair who plays against Essendon", although there may have also been a time when he went with the shaved look for a short time. His first game of his career was against the Bombers, it was the only game he played in 1998. The next year he played five games and the first of those was again versus Essendon at the MCG. He also played his 100th game against Essendon.
Like around a third of the players that Geelong have on the field, Scarlett was a father/son draft pick by the Cats. Officially he was pick 45 in the 1997 AFL draft.
For someone who is usually the full back, he can total up a useful number of disposals. Over his career, he has had several games over 20 or more kicks. His best ever game was 24 kicks. Very strong above his head, Scarlett also gets plenty of marks. His highest total in a single game is 15 marks.
Geelong are at their best when Scarlett is deep in their back line, as opposed to last season when Scarlett played full forward against Melbourne when Geelong were out of finals contention. The back line has often been a problem area for Geelong in Grand Finals, as their converted full forwards, future Docker and future NFL punter couldn't get the job done when it mattered. Geelong do have a lot of work to do to get to the AFL Grand Final, but with Scarlett ready to take on the big forwards of the AFL they won't have to worry about the back line this time.
Matthew Scarlett information:
192cm, 95kg
Official AFL Profile
Wikipedia entry
Number 29
