Matthew Rendell was an Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League and South Australian National Football League.
14 Facts About Matt Rendell
1.
2.
Matt Rendell left South Australia in 1981 to play with the Fitzroy Football Club in the VFL, wearing the No 9 guernsey.
3.
Matt Rendell did have quite a number of injuries after 1983, with the result that he played only 26 of 43 games in 1984 and 1985.
4.
Matt Rendell won Fitzroy's 1982 and 1983 best and fairest awards, and was appointed captain from 1985 to 1987.
5.
In one game, Matt Rendell, who had not kicked a goal in his previous seventeen games for Fitzroy, was used as a seventh forward to counter North Melbourne's Gary Dempsey's habit of marking in the last line of defence; as a result of this strategy, Matt Rendell kicked eight goals and the Lions won the game by 150 points, which at the time more than doubled the previous biggest loss by a minor premier.
6.
Matt Rendell played just one game with the Lions in 1988, the rest of the year spent in the reserves, which Matt Rendell put down to a misunderstanding with coach David Parkin.
7.
Matt Rendell played 18 games in 1989 and played well enough throughout the season to secure four Brownlow votes in a drive to the finals that was deflated by an injury to top forward Richard Osborne.
8.
Matt Rendell retired at the end of 1991 after 164 games and 101 goals with Fitzroy.
9.
Matt Rendell did so in his final year in 1992, playing 13 games and booting seven goals for the Bears before retiring for good.
10.
Matt Rendell was an assistant coach and match-day tactician with the St Kilda Football Club, alongside Grant Thomas, until he was sacked at the end of 2006 with the appointment of Ross Lyon.
11.
Matt Rendell resigned as Adelaide's recruiting manager on 16 March 2012 following issues around reported comments in relation to the recruitment of Indigenous players.
12.
Matt Rendell was later, with the AFL's permission, hired by Collingwood as part of their recruiting department.
13.
Matt Rendell's brother Tim was a promising ruckman who played for West Torrens and was recruited by Fitzroy; however, Tim did not play a game due to chronic injury.
14.
Matt Rendell died on the afternoon of 28 June 2023, after suffering a cardiac arrest on 25 June while walking his dog.