1. Matthew James Lloyd was born on 16 April 1978 and is a former professional Australian rules footballer, who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League.
47 Facts About Matthew Lloyd
1. 2.
Matthew Lloyd belongs to the relatively small group of players whose first kick in the AFL resulted in a goal.
3.
Matthew Lloyd was born in Melbourne in 1978 to parents John and Bev Lloyd.
4.
The Lloyds moved to Scotland for three years because of John's work, and it was there that Matthew picked up rugby and soccer playing for his Currie club.
5.
Matthew Lloyd attended St Martin De Porres Parish Primary School in Avondale Heights before moving to St Bernard's College in Essendon.
6.
Matthew Lloyd played junior football for Avondale Heights Football Club in the Essendon District Football League.
7.
Matthew Lloyd supported the Fitzroy Football Club when he was young because in the first game he attended, Fitzroy player Bernie Quinlan kicked nine goals.
8.
Matthew Lloyd was drafted into the AFL as a 16-year-old in the 1995 Pre-season Draft as a "compensatory selection" that was awarded to Essendon by the AFL in return for losing Todd Ridley to the newly formed Fremantle Football Club.
9.
Matthew Lloyd was heralded as a future football star after his AFL debut in Round 14,1995, where he scored a goal with his first kick in league football and three for the match.
10.
The key features of Matthew Lloyd's game were his powerful marks on the lead, his use of his body in a defensive capacity and accurate goal kicking, particularly from set shots on his left foot.
11.
Matthew Lloyd converted a large majority of set shots inside the 50-metre arc and kicked further than 50 metres on a regular basis.
12.
Matthew Lloyd was known for his ritual when taking set shots at goal.
13.
In 2006, the AFL introduced a "shot clock" to limit the amount of time that players had to take set shots; although Matthew Lloyd's ritual was not the longest in the league, its quirks made it so well known that the rule became commonly known as the "Matthew Lloyd Rule".
14.
Matthew Lloyd adjusted his ritual to fit into the new rule, and he still retained the most famous aspect until the end of his career.
15.
Matthew Lloyd was selected in the All-Australian team on five occasions, won the Coleman Medal for kicking the most goals in the regular season three times and twice kicked more than 100 goals in a completed season.
16.
Matthew Lloyd was a member of Essendon's 2000 premiership team and was captain of Essendon from 2006 to 2009.
17.
Matthew Lloyd was recognised for his achievements at Essendon in 2002 when he was ranked the 22nd-greatest player ever to play for the club in the "Champions of Essendon" list.
18.
Matthew Lloyd was appointed Essendon captain ahead of the 2006 season after James Hird elected to stand down following the side's disappointing 2005 season.
19.
In 2013, Matthew Lloyd was inducted as a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame and as a Legend in the Essendon Football Club Hall of Fame.
20.
Matthew Lloyd had a successful State of Origin career, kicking 8 goals in 3 games.
21.
Matthew Lloyd first played for Victoria in 1997, against South Australia, kicking 3 goals, including a snap kick along the ground from near the boundary line, which went one way and then curved back another.
22.
In 1998, Matthew Lloyd kicked two goals against The Allies, in Brisbane.
23.
Matthew Lloyd last played for Victoria in 1999 against South Australia in the second-last-ever State of Origin game, kicking 3 goals and being named in the best players.
24.
In Round 20,2007, Matthew Lloyd kicked a backheel goal whilst surrounded by opponents and was awarded the 2007 Goal of the Year.
25.
In Round 18,2008, against the Melbourne Demons, Matthew Lloyd took a spectacular mark above five players to win the 2008 Mark of the Year.
26.
Matthew Lloyd suffered a large amount of blood loss and spent 10 days in intensive care in a Sydney hospital.
27.
In Round 6,2002, against Fremantle, Matthew Lloyd ruptured a tendon in his right ring finger when it was caught in his opponent's guernsey.
28.
Matthew Lloyd returned in Round 14 against the Western Bulldogs when Steven Kretiuk controversially targeted his injured hand.
29.
Matthew Lloyd walked off the ground with the aid of trainers and did not return for the rest of the match.
30.
Matthew Lloyd made a successful comeback against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium in Round 1,2007.
31.
Matthew Lloyd kicked two goals while working further up the ground, putting to rest any concerns about his injured hamstring.
32.
In Round 22,2009, Matthew Lloyd hit Hawthorn player Brad Sewell with a heavy bump that left him unconscious and with facial injuries, and it led to a brawl between the two teams.
33.
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson threatened Matthew Lloyd and abused an interchange steward and had to be restrained by Hawthorn football manager Mark Evans as the teams left the field.
34.
Essendon went on to win the match by 17 points after trailing by 22 points at the time of the incident, and in the week after the match, Matthew Lloyd was given a six-match suspension by the match review panel for the hit on Sewell.
35.
Matthew Lloyd only served one match of his suspension, missing Essendon's 96-point elimination final loss to Adelaide at AAMI Stadium, before announcing his retirement on 23 September 2009.
36.
On 23 September 2009, Matthew Lloyd announced his retirement to a packed media conference at the Essendon Football Club Hall of Fame.
37.
In 2009, Matthew Lloyd was appointed assistant coach at the AIS-AFL Academy; however, he ruled out applying for an AFL coaching position.
38.
Matthew Lloyd co-hosted children's AFL show Auskick'n Around on Fox Footy Channel with Brad Johnson from the Western Bulldogs from 2003 until it was cancelled at the end of 2005.
39.
In 2009, Matthew Lloyd appeared as a regular panelist on a new show, One Week at a Time, as well as doing special comments on Network Ten and writing a regular column for The Age newspaper.
40.
Matthew Lloyd signed with the Network Ten AFL team as an expert commentator for the 2010 and 2011 AFL seasons on Channel Ten and One HD, until Ten Sport lost the rights at the end of the 2011 AFL season.
41.
Matthew Lloyd worked for radio station SEN, was a co-host of The Game Plan on One HD during 2011, and continued working for The Age.
42.
Matthew Lloyd left SEN to join 3AW's AFL special comments team.
43.
Matthew Lloyd is a recurring panelist on The Footy Show and on occasion appears on Nine News Melbourne to provide insights into the weekly round of matches.
44.
In March 2022, Matthew Lloyd announced on Footy Classified that he had Bell's palsy, a form of facial paralysis.
45.
Matthew Lloyd has two older brothers, Simon, who is an assistant coach at the Geelong Football Club, and Brad, who is a former Hawthorn player and now head of football at the Carlton Football Club, as well as one older sister, Kylie, who is the Finance Manager at Nine Network Australia.
46.
On 9 November 2002, Matthew Lloyd married his childhood sweetheart, Lisa-Marie Caparello, usually known as "Lisa", at Xavier College Chapel.
47.
Lisa Matthew Lloyd appeared on The Footy Show's singing competition, Screamers, in 2005 and was a regular presenter on Fox Footy's Living With Footballers.