By Jonty Ralphsmith
Precede
The youngest of five football-loving brothers has signed his first VFL contract, with Frankston hopeful the Noble Park local and Berwick Springs junior is the beginning of a trend in the South East region.
Story
Noble Park’s Matt Nelson was running around in a diaper and going to kindergarten while his eldest brother Daniel was getting his licence.
14 years separate youngest to oldest, their love for each other outweighed by their competitive spirit when in their Narre South backyard.
There was always a seasonal buffet of sports on the menu.
“As soon as there’s some sort of talent-measured competition, everyone wants to be the alpha and get one up on the other,” said middle brother Luke, who also has 53 games of VFL experience with Coburg and Richmond and plays at powerhouse Noble Park.
“We would split up (second-eldest) Aidan and myself, and Tom and Matt who were pretty little to be honest, and we probably set the bar pretty high for those two, but I think it really does set you up to deal with people being better than you sometimes.
“There’s always going to be guys who are taller, stronger, more athletic, even more naturally gifted – they might just have a better toolkit than you.”
After having Daniel and Aidan to guide him through his childhood, Luke, 26, has been an important asset in Matt’s footballing journey.
By age 15, the 2023 Dandenong Stingrays graduate was joining in with the former VFL-listed player’s sessions.
“I would do the running sessions and nearly die!” Matt exclaimed.
“Learning at that young age taught me how difficult it really is to get to the next stage – it doesn’t just come, it’s really, really hard mentally and physically.
“It was surreal seeing listed AFL players playing beside my brother, but from a young age doing the training and hard work with him, I think I grew into it a little bit.
“Seeing how good he was and his achievements throughout VFL level and local really pushed me to thrive, and whenever I now train or do the running or gym work, I feel like mentally I’m getting stronger.“
In between his Stingrays commitments in 2022, Matt was a prominent player for Berwick Springs’ seniors before crossing to the Bullring ahead of last season to play a higher standard of footy.
Both Matt and Noble Park coach Steve Hughes expected him to have to work his way into the senior line-up, but after just one full session with the seniors, he pushed his case to debut at the first available opportunity.
That work ethic stood out to the seasoned Bulls coach immediately.
“What strikes me about Matt is he has excellent training habits,“ Hughes said.
“I’d go so far as to say it’s some of the best training habits I’ve seen for an 18-year-old – his intensity, enthusiasm and professionalism leads the way.
“The way he trained got him his first game – it was so impressive we decided to pull the trigger and give him a go even though I’d never seen him before.
“I encourage some of our other players to watch the young fella train.
“At Eastern Premier level 18-year-olds don’t generally have a massive influence, but Matty well and truly held his own, so I’m really pleased to see him pursue the VFL path.“
After being presented with his jumper by Luke at Arch Brown Reserve, Berwick – ironically where Luke’s senior career started – Matt would play all nine of his Bulls games in the ones.
That included three games with brother, Luke, after playing with Tom and Aidan the previous year at the Titans.
“You’re in the game and in the mode of playing your best footy but sometimes the realisation comes in that your brother’s on the same field, and you know he’s going to compete and you look upon that and you learn off it,” Matt said.
Luke: “I remember the first time we linked up, Matty got a one-two from (Jackson Sketcher) and hit me up on the wing.
“I was in the moment but once I took the mark and kicked the ball further down I thought ’that was pretty awesome to get the ball kicked to you from your brother’.
“Even though we hadn’t played together, we had done so much work together in preseasons ever since Matt was about 14.“
For a family who grew up recording backyard sporting battles to settle inevitable arguments, the big question still looms: which brother will finish their career as the best footballer?
“I used to watch him at about under-13 and thought he might be coming for the number one spot, I’ll have to keep an eye on him,” Luke quipped with a chuckle.
Matt is motivated by the carrot of an AFL list spot, and points to the 2022 Talent League grand final as a turning point for his confidence.
While it was a baptism of fire on Harry Sheezel, who went on to dominate the match, given the task of shutting down the would-be AFL rising star winner was something he held on to.
“There was the disappointment at not being talked about – I really wish I was there and got my name read out and family around me but at the same time it’s not the only way of getting in there,” Nelson noted.
“It’s probably the best way, but I was just thinking to myself, ’I’ve improved from last year, I look across my game play and stats – not just football ability wise, but as a character’.
“Mentally I’ve improved significantly from my 17s year, because I looked at some players in my 17th year and would think ’maybe I wasn’t good enough’ but when I got put on Harry Sheezel, I realised they trust me, they must think I’ve got some ability defensively.”
Two of Matt’s three strongest performances of his 2023 Stingrays campaign were fittingly at Frankston Park.
Having played across each line during his time at the Stingrays and at local level, Frankston coach Jackson Kornberg sees a clear role for the versatile teen in 2024.
“His ball use is his strength, he’s able to accumulate the ball, he’s got no trouble in knowing where to run and find the footy,” the Dolphins coach says.
“His foot skills have really impressed me and I think the wing/halfback is where I see him settling this year.”
FRANKSTON SEEKING TO BECOME SOUTH EAST “CLUB OF CHOICE“
Recently appointed Frankston chief executive Fraser Bayne says Frankston will put an increasing currency on signing talent from the region.
Bayne and Kornberg have replaced Adrian Lloyd and Danny Ryan as chief executive and coach respectively in the off-season.
“In essence, we want to become the VFL club of choice for people who live in the AFL South East region so we look at Dandenong Stingrays as an acute part of that,” Bayne said.
“That (includes) kids who play in the Mornington Peninsula juniors, South East juniors and Frankston District juniors.
“Nick Cox and Toby (Jedwab) have got a great program going through the Stingrays.
“Those players that don’t get drafted, we’d like them to think that Frankston is the club they want to come to when they’re thinking about their next step in the footballing journey and hopefully get the grounding that hopefully they still can be drafted.”
Bayne put forward several ideas of how to sustain connection with the Stingrays, including inviting the Stingrays to train at Kinetic, having VFL players attend Stingrays sessions and increasing the Dolphins’ presence in interleague programs.
“As a semi-professional program, it makes sense if you’re living in the area to come to Frankston rather than travelling to other clubs,” he said.
Aligning with that vision, the club is keen to position its Academy as a centre of excellence for talent in the region, particularly the Mornington Peninsula Football Netball League, benefiting clubs including Devon Meadows and Pearcedale.
Alongside Nelson, Beaconsfield goal kicker Matt Johnson and Cranbourne’s George Grey are other locals who will line up for Frankston in 2024, while 2022 Rays graduate Taj Campbell-Farrell has also joined the club from Williamstown.
