MILESTONE OF LONGEVITY: Lucas Matthews to play senior game 400 on Saturday

QUITE simply, it's the love of the game and the people involved that at the age of 42 has Lucas Matthews continuing a senior football career that on Saturday reaches a major milestone.

When the durable Matthews takes to the field for Mitiamo at home against Calivil United in the Loddon Valley league his senior career will reach the phenomenal tally of 400 games.

It's a career that encompasses six clubs - seven if you count a one-off appearance for Pearcedale - and a host of senior representative games, with the 400-game milestone one Matthews is immensely proud of accomplishing.

Despite the lengthy list of clubs Matthews has played at over a career that spans more than two decades, he can comfortably recite his footballing timeline: Eaglehawk (1998-2002); Ainslie (2003-05); Noosa Tigers (2006-07); Aspley Hornets (2009); Noosa Tigers (2010-11); Koondrook Barham (2012); Eaglehawk (2013); Koondrook Barham (2014-17); and Mitiamo (2018-).

Of those clubs, Eaglehawk is where Matthews has played the most games having notched over 100 with the Borough.

At the next level Matthews has also had the opportunity to play for Queensland, the ACT and New South Wales in the Australian Country Championships, as well as a host of other games representing various leagues.

While most 42-year-olds have well and truly hung up the boots from senior footy and are content watching from behind the fence, Matthews' passion for the game remains just as strong as when he made his senior debut with Eaglehawk as a teenager in 1998.

"I just love the game, but it's also the people involved and the footy club," Matthews said this week.

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"The Mitiamo footy club is a really special place as far as our family goes, but it's also the connection I've got with the Queensland guys at the club who I've played a lot of footy with and against who keep me coming back.

"But really, the main reason is because my mum and dad (Ann and Graeme) were so passionate about football and the idea of mum not having something to do on a Saturday is why I still really enjoy coming up every week (from the Mornington Peninsula), so she has something to watch."

Matthews' football career is littered with both team and individual success.

In his fourth season of senior football at Eaglehawk in 2001 the midfielder was a joint winner of the BFNL's Michelsen Medal with Castlemaine's Paul Eyles.

He has also won a league medal in Queensland's Pineapple Cup with Noosa in 2011, seven best and fairests (two at Eaglehawk, one at Ainslie, one at Noosa, one at Aspley and two at Koondrook-Barham) and three premierships - back-to-back flags with Noosa in 2010-11 and Matthews' most cherished footballing moment, the 2019 Loddon Valley league flag with Mitiamo.

"The 2019 premiership (against Pyramid Hill) is a really nice story in particular for my mum," Matthews said.

"We won the premiership in September of 2019 and dad passed away later that year in December after a four-and-a-half year battle with MND.

"I was 40 at the time and we won it 40 years after dad had played in Mitiamo's premiership team of 1979.

"I played in dad's jumper (No.43) and my fourth child (Darcy), who was due on grand final day, had been born a week earlier, so it was a very big and special week.

"In 2018 we had lost the grand final (to Newbridge), so 2019 was really significant because we knew that dad probably didn't have long to go, so that was very significant to win it that year.

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"I've been lucky across the journey to have won three grand finals, I've lost three as well, but without doubt winning that 2019 grand final at Mitiamo is the highlight of my career."

As far as preparation goes to get his body through to the 400-game mark, remarkably, Matthews hasn't trained in a club environment for 12 years.

"I've done my own fitness for the past 12 seasons," said Matthews, who has never played a reserves game.

"There's two parts to that. Number one, it works for me from a fitness point of view, although, there would be no question that I've dropped off from a skills point of view.

"And secondly, it's about being able to play on a weekend and also balance the home life. My wife Hayley and I have four kids (Will, 12, Charlie, 10, Poppy, 7, and Darcy, 2) and she has her own business, so me taking off once or twice a week for training and then recovery sessions has been too hard, and there's obviously the tyranny of distance as well."

Matthews considers himself fortunate to have had no injuries of major significance, although, a strained medial has restricted him to just three games so far this season with the Superoos.

"It has taken me a bit longer to get back from the strained medial, but at my age now it's a fairly slow recovery," Matthews said.

"I've had many years of old-school trainers who have taught me bits and pieces that I have adopted into my own way and I now 100 per cent self-prepare and self-treat any injuries or soreness... which might be why it has taken the medial so long to come good.

"I've been very fortunate that this is the injury that has kept me sidelined the longest across the journey.

"Subject to being rubbed out in my early days when I was a bit younger there hasn't been too many years where I haven't played every game.

"I remember having an ankle injury while I was up at Queensland that kept me out for three games, but nothing as long as this, which might be a sign of my age."

Matthews' first senior coach in 1998 was the player he shared the 2001 Michelsen Medal with three years later - Eyles - with his first senior game a 57-point loss to Sandhurst in round one.

Matthews had originally been selected as an emergency for the Hawks, but was elevated into the side after Damien Slater earned a late call-up for the Bendigo Diggers in the VFL.

His current coach at the Superoos is Marcus McKern, with the pair having also previously played together early in Matthews' Eaglehawk days.

"He has always kept himself in ripping nick and just keeps going," McKern said.

"He's a contested ball beast, never goes to ground in one-on-one contests... what more can you say, he just keeps on keeping on."

The Superoos head into Matthews' milestone game on Saturday against Calivil United in third position on the LVFNL ladder.

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